Ranma and the Land of Symphonia
by ClanCrusher
Summary: On that fateful day at Jusenkyo, Ranma fell through a spring that was being used as a portal, transporting him to the Land of Sylvarant.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½. I do not own Tales of Symphonia and I do not own Oh My Goddess. They all belong to their respectful owners and whoever they sold the rights to so quit stalking me.

A/N: This is a revision of the first chapter.

Ranma and the Land of Symphonia

Prologue

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The guide watched as yet more people fought over Jusenkyo. As usual, he had tried to warn them of the danger, but of course they never listened. He sometimes wondered weather that was part of the curse, not listening to the guide that is. They never did, until one of them fell in the pools.

At the moment he was watching as a youth with black hair tied back into a pigtail fight an overweight man with a bandana on his head that was apparently his father. They had been going for half and hour at least, and by the looks of it, they weren't going to stop soon.

They moved with a grace that defied natural physics and seemingly broke the laws of gravity with ease. It was beautiful, but sad, as there was always the inevitable looser at the end. Then again, anyone who gambled with the springs always lost. He had seen it countless times before and this time was no different.

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Ranma was in top form. Maybe it was something in the air, or maybe it was the general magic in the area but he was fighting better then he had in weeks. The lack of food was nothing to him as he mercilessly laid into his father.

Genma was desperately trying to put up a defense but all hope of that was beaten down by his son's fury. One kick slipped past his defenses and sent him spiraling towards a far off pool.

"Hey pop, what's the matter? Ya done already?"

The pools bubbles were all that answered. Suddenly a black and white blur rose from the spring and landed gracefully on one of the bamboo polls.

"What the hell is that?" The creature that had replaced his father was unmistakably a…panda.

"Oh too bad." Said the guide pulling out his signs from who knows where. "Customer fall in Shonmaoniichuan spring of drown panda. Very tragic story of panda that fall in spring 1500 year ago."

"Hey buddy you didn't say anything about that!"

Unfortunately, Genma took this opportunity to jump over to his son and send him flying towards another of the pools.

By luck and chance that only Ranma could achieve, this particular pool that he was heading to, was in use by a certain goddess. The girl in white got out of the pool and cursed silently to herself.

"How the heck did I end up here?" she thought to herself, "I think my transport mediums' got a bug in it."

It was at this moment that a certain pig tailed martial artist fell through the still open portal in the water and was lost from view.

"What in the heaven?" she ran over to the side of the pool but it was too late. The portal had already closed.

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The group of Desians were on the final leg of their patrol when a bright flash of light illuminated the forest, so bright that they had to blink to get the spots from their eyes.

"What on earth was that? The light of the oracle isn't supposed to be revealed for a time yet."

"Do you think we should check it out?" asked one.

"We are to patrol this section of the forest. That means scouting out and reporting all disturbances." Interrupted the captain.

"Scouting. Not dieing. I don't get paid enough as it is!"

"If you don't get moving then your not getting paid at all!"

After a few more complaints, which were forcefully put down by the commander, they made their way to the clearing in the forest.

However it was not a powerful sorcerer that they found, nor their death. In the clearing was a naked boy no older than 16 years of age.

"Do you think he's from Iselia?"

"Lying naked in the middle of the forest? I doubt it. Cover him!"

Two of the Desians produced a blanket and covered his lower body, "He doesn't contain an exsphere, so he didn't come from the ranch either."

"Then no ones going to miss him. You two!" the captain pointed to two of his following guards, "Carry him back to the ranch and have lord Forcycstus look him over."

"Right away sir."

**To Be Continued…**

A/N: All C&C will be greatly appreciated. Flames will be used to feed my fire, along with all of the other drafts of this prologue.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½. I do not own Tales of Symphonia. They all belong to their respectful owners and you would just be wasting your time trying to sue me so will you stop sending lawyers to my house?

**Ranma and the Land of Symphonia Presents:**

**Chapter 1 – Of Humans and Half-Elves**

Being unexpectedly transported to another dimension is not a pleasant experience. The best way to describe ones first transportation would be along the lines of having your body ripped to little pieces and slowly rebuilt piece by piece somewhere else. A weak person would die. A normal man would be in a coma for at least a week. For Ranma, it rendered him unconscious for several hours. 

Ranma woke with a start. He immediately tried to jump up, only to be brought to his knees by a wave of pain. He bit back a shout and looked around. He concluded that he was in a holding cell, made of a type of metal material. On the opening to the cell there appeared to be a shimmering blue wall of light. Ranma crawled over to it and placed his hand against it finding it to be quite solid.

Although Ranma was not the brightest person in the world, he knew that trying to punch his way out of the cell would be futile. Leaning against the wall he looked himself over to assess his condition.

Despite being in a lot of pain, he could find no visible injuries. Looking at his clothes he found that instead of his trademark Chinese red silk shirt and black pants, he was wearing thin, light brown robes. On his right hand, he was shocked to find that there was a gem there, deeply imbedded into his skin. Taking a closer look at it, he knew that it was futile to remove it for it was too deeply inserted into his skin. It seemed to glow a pale blue with a small hint of red.

"So you're finally awake."

The voice surprised Ranma. He hadn't realized there was someone in the cell with him. Looking around into the corner behind him he saw an old lady there in a similar garb with a similar looking gem on her right hand.

"Who are you? Where am I? How did I get here?" he asked, his voice panicky and quick.

"Slow down child. One question at a time. As to where you are, you are in Iselia Human Ranch. You were dragged here by several desians."

"What is a desian?"

"Hmm, you don't know what a desian is? Your not from around here are you." Said the old woman.

"I don't even know where 'here' is." Said Ranma. From the way it was sounding, he was in a completely different country.

"Hmm, well I guess I will just have to start at the beginning. Your are in the land of Sylvarant. You were drug here by several half-elf guards known as desians to this prison known as a human ranch." Explained the old woman.

Ranma, who had recovered from his pain, stood up. "I can't stay here, I have to get to my pop, wherever he is." So saying, Ranma walked over to the blue wall and threw a light punch. The shock that he received wasn't too bad but the barrier did nothing to show signs of giving way.

"Don't be foolish young man!" chided the older woman. "Its not possible to break out of here. Even if you did the desians would come by the dozen!"

Ranma was hotheaded, stubborn as hell and an egomaniac but the words of this woman were enough to calm him down for Ranma respected his elders, at least those who earned it. "So what exactly are they going to make me do?" he asked.

"Mostly pointless physical labor. Probably to tire us out by the end of every day."

Ranma punched the ground in frustration. He couldn't spend his time here. He had to get back to Jusenkyo, or if what the woman was saying was true, he needed to find a way back to his own world. He noticed the old woman looking at him in shock. "What?" he asked.

"Young man, if you ever want to escape from here you should hide your true strength. If they find what you are capable of then you will either be killed or put in a high security cell," The woman said in a serious tone of voice. Ranma looked puzzled for a minute then looked down at the floor where he realized the cracks had spider webbed out from his hand.

"By the way, I don't believe I got your name young man."

"Ranma Saotome. A pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise. My name is Marble."

**3 days later…**

Ranma's life had taken on a daily pattern. Get up, get fed, and get working. The labor was indeed pointless, consisting of pushing blocks, breaking rock and all other sorts of physical labor. Ranma took Marble's advice and hid his true strength from the desians, pretending to be hurt when their whips hit him, moving just barely as fast as everyone else, but always looking for an escape. He grew to loathe the half elves that simply took pleasure in whipping people for no reason.

Most of the work the desians put them through was done outside and allowed Ranma to get a good view of the surrounding areas. There was a wall that surrounded the ranch about 25 feet high on all sides. Ranma knew that he could clear the wall in a single jump but there was a small problem with that. Well, make that about 20 problems. Specifically the 20 guards stationed with crossbows that seemed to be around the workers. What he needed was some sort of distraction so the guards wouldn't make him a pincushion when he jumped.

Later back in his cell after eating the jail standard dinner, Ranma talked with Marble.

"Tomorrow child, there is going to be a great event known as the light of the oracle. The angels will come down and bestow the tower of salvation upon Sylvarant so that the chosen can begin the journey of world regeneration." Marble said excitedly.

"Huh?" said Ranma intelligently, "What's world regeneration, and what's the chosen?"

"Oh right. I'm sorry I forgot. Best start from the beginning."

Marble then proceeded to tell Ranma the story The Chosen of Regeneration. The land of Sylvarant had started out very prosperous but was steadily falling into decline as the worlds supply of mana, the worlds lifeforce, ran out. When the world was in decline, people like the desians showed up and enslaved humans while the soil became less fertile for crops and droughts would occur. It was up to the chosen of mana to perform the world regeneration ritual to restore mana to the world by releasing the seals at various points in the world.

Ranma's head was spinning from all of the information. Basically some holy man named the 'Chosen' went out to save the world. That much he could grasp. "What is this 'light of the oracle' that you talked about?" he asked Marble.

"Well a nice kid named Genis told me that tomorrow there will be a bright light that could be seen for miles around signaling that the world has been bestowed with the angels blessings. It's also a signal for the chosen to go and start the journey of regeneration."

Ranma only caught the part about the light. Maybe this was his big chance.

Ranma was working outside the ranch doing the easy physical labor, barely able to contain his excitement. He was going to get out of this place today. He was in a hurry too. Although they never seemed to do anything besides physical labor, some of the people had begun to mysteriously disappear. He never saw them again and knew that he would soon share their fate if he did not get out of there.

And then, it happened. A bright flash that illuminated the countryside, the light of the oracle. Everyone momentarily stopped their work, even the desians, to look in the direction from where it came. Ranma took this chance to leap on top of the block he was pushing, then he leaped to the top of the wall. However he couldn't resist one parting gift.

"See ya, suckers!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. Many desians turned their heads to him, some even got their crossbows aimed at him, but he was long gone.

Marble was watching from the sidelines. "Good luck Ranma." She said to herself, then turned back to her work.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Well another chapter complete. My thanks goes to the first three people to read my work and critique it. I will answer some questions here.

**Max Krugman**: No I will not be giving him swords. There are enough sword wielding idiots that are going to be in this story already (somewhere in another universe Kuno sneezes). I was thinking more along the lines of a gauntlet or claw type weapon. It would go well with his martial arts.

**Jerry Unipeg**: Thanks. What more can I ask for?

**Campin' Carl**: I will be making my chapters longer, but this seemed like an appropriate stopping point.

For those people that have played the game, remember that they cant kill the humans before they serve their purpose, so they should feed them regularly. Oh and can someone give me a suggestion about how Ranma could get a key crest? I'm kind of at a loss on that one.

Tune in next time for the battle at Martel Temple.


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½, I do not own Tales of Symphonia. This is purely a work of fanfiction where I can twist the characters to my will! Muhahahahaha! Cough cough Sorry about that.

A/N: Thank you everyone for your reviews and for god sakes I will not be turning Ranma into a monster, come on. Anyway, as for the pairing situation, I am going to stay away from Nerima. I was thinking Sheena, but I'll consider any suggestions. On with the story.

**Ranma and the Land of Symphonia**

**Chapter 2: The Battle at Martel Temple**

Ranma was running blindly. The land was unfamiliar to him so he ran to the only place he knew there was some aspect of human life. Straight towards the light. If you asked him later, he probably couldn't tell you why. It was as if he was drawn there. After 2 minutes of super sonic running Ranma slowed down to a walk. He was in a forest of some kind. Probably Iselia forest if what Marble told him was correct.

He thought through his situation. He had no where to go, no idea which part of the map he was on and no idea how he was going to get food. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of marching feet on the path he was on. Jumping up into a tree he saw familiar red and brown uniforms of the desian guards.

'Damnit, how did they find me so fast?' he thought to himself. There was no way they could have gotten from the ranch this fast. However, they did not seem to be looking for him. The group passed right under the tree and continued on towards the temple.

'This cant be good' thought Ranma. He had from Marble heard how the desians opposed the journey of regeneration and sought to kill the chosen and it was up to her guardians to protect her. Ranma thought this over for all of 2 seconds before silently following behind them. He had a bit of a bone to pick with them anyway.

They reached the temple in two minutes where Ranma witnessed an exchange between two people. A huge man with a morning star and a shorter man wearing robes as well but with slightly colored patches on it. He carried a red sword. Ranma witnessed the exchange.

"Lord Botta, the priests have holed themselves in the central chamber and defending against all of our attacks." The big one said.

"With the troops here it will be childs play." He addressed the soldiers, "You 5, come with me." Botta, the giant and 5 of the 20 soldiers went into the temple. The sounds of battle broke out. Not long after a priest came out of the entrance wounded.

"Looks like they left some for us after all. Time to finish this one off," said one of the guards. He went over to the man and drew his sword.

Let it never be said that Ranma was without honor, but when the odds are stacked against you 15 to 1, fair fighting is a myth. There was no shout, no battle cry, just the sounds of two guards being hit hard enough to impact the temple wall and leave their impressions.

"Who the hell are you?" shouted one guard who saw what happened. All of the guards turned their heads towards him drawing their weapons. Some in the back drew crossbows.

"I'm Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts." He grabbed three arrows out of the air that were shot at him, "I accept your challenge."

Even as the first few guards were rushing him, he jumped behind them, taking the bolts in his hand and throwing them at the bowmen. All of his shots hit the neck area and in the moment of distraction that they had he was on them, breaking one crossbow, breaking another's arm and throwing one person in the path of the oncoming infantry. Then, he concentrated on the weapon bearers.

Ranma was normally a nice person. Few things could make him truly angry and he often knocked people into unconsciousness, but with the desians it was different. He had seen them mercilessly whip, beat and now kill humans right in front of his eyes, so it was understandable that he had some fury to work off.

The desians never had a chance. True, they had weapon training and were better than average, but all their training didn't hold a candle to Ranma. He deliberately got in close so that the desians would be in the way of one another. He grabbed the whip of one that snaked out towards him and swung the unsuspecting desian at the end of the whip around in a circle before throwing him down the hill the temple rested on. A roundhouse kick took out the guy trying to sneak up behind him.

Several punches later it was over. All of the desians were lying in a bruised and battered heap at his feet. It was this scene that the giant walked out to, with Botta trailing behind. "What the hell happened here?" said the giant. Then he noticed Ranma, "You mean to tell me that you did this, don't make me laugh. Ill crush you."

Without warning, the giant attacked. Ranma immediately dogged and assessed his fighting style. He had seen it before. Big, powerful, soaks up blows and slower than molasses. Ranma easily dogged the blows and retaliated in openings you could drive a truck into. He wasn't doing much damage though. Meanwhile the giant was getting frustrated with his lack of success. The blows were not hurting, it was more of a blow to his pride than anything else. Ranma's insults didn't help either.

In a fight as this one, there are two possible outcomes. The smaller guy wears out the bigger one with repeated blows or the big guy gets in one shot and ends the fight. Unfortunately for Ranma, one desian bowman had gotten a second wind and fired a bolt directly at Ranma's back. This caused Ranma's danger sense to go off and instinctively jump out of the path of the bolt. Looking behind him to where the target was, he left himself open for a second too long and took the huge impact of the giants mace in his chest.

When Ranma was 12, Genma toughened Ranma up by repeatedly bashing him into a tree until it broke. This did make Ranma tougher but there could only be one thing said about a fury enhanced morning star, swung at you by a giant. It hurt.

To make the best of a bad situation, Ranma was able to break his fall by slamming into the person who fired the bolt. Ranma got shakily to his feet trying to regain his wind. The giant was walking over to Ranma, his mace swinging over his head. Ranma was able to doge the blow aimed at his head desperately trying to recover. Unfortunately he stepped on one of the desians heads and lost his footing. He looked up and saw the giant ready to hit him again with another blow. Ranma knew that he couldn't regain his footing in time.

It was at this moment that flying disk flew from the temple stairs and hit the man in the head. This momentary distraction allowed Ranma to plant a kick in the mans midsection knocking him back several feet. It was this scene that Lloyd, Colette, and Genis walked into.

**Earlier at Iselia Village:**

The light of the oracle had just flashed disrupting the class. "Everyone please remain calm. I am going to go over to the temple to investigate. Please study by yourselves and do not leave the classroom until I get back."

The chosen of regeneration, Colette, stood up. "Professor Raine, should I go along too?"

"No Colette, we will send for you if there is need." So saying Raine walked out of the door.

Everyone in the class was talking excitedly. Lloyd Irving, however, moved towards the door. Genis ran up to him before he could go outside. "Hey Lloyd, what do you think your doing, didn't Raine specifically tell us not to leave the classroom?"

"It's research." Said Lloyd simply, "Don't tell me your not curious?"

Genis was weakening. "But what if Raine comes back?"

"Simple, we get back before she does." Said Lloyd matter of factly.

"Alright, but we better not get caught." Said Genis, grumbling to himself.

"Oh Colette, do you want to come along? After all, this concerns you too."

"Oh sure," said Colette. That said, all three walked out of the classroom.

Outside the village was like a ghost town for there was no sound anywhere. "Why is it so quiet out here?" asked Lloyd. There was no need for an answer as a group of monsters came in through the gate of the village.

Lloyd was a lot like Ranma when it came to thinking. He had a brilliant tactical mind and could battle with the best of them, but fell short in all other areas of thinking. Lloyd drew the wooden swords at his side and got ready for battle. Behind him, Genis took out his kenndama and focused his power into it. Colette got out her charka. The enemies consisted of two zombies and a ghost.

Running forward Lloyd rushed the zombie, dodged its painfully slow attack and countered with several slashes to its midsection. Lloyd jumped out of the way of another attack from the other zombie just as three fireballs impacted the duo. One was burnt to a crisp while the other was slightly singed. Just then a charka flew by and decapitated its head.

The ghost was another story. Physical attacks would not work against it so Lloyd took up a defensive stance in front of Genis to give him time to cast his spell. Hearing the shout of 'fireball' Lloyd leaped out of the way of the ghosts attacks and let the second volley of fireballs impact it. The body broken, the ghost faded from existence.

"Come on Colette, we need to get to the temple. Something must be up." Said Lloyd walking towards the village exit, followed by Genis.

The trio fought their way past another group of enemies and out of the village. All three ran to Martel Temple. At the bottom of the hill, there was a priest collapsed there. Lloyd immediately ran up to him. "Are you allright he asked?" Stupid question really. The man was favoring a wound in his chest and had several cuts over his body."

"De..sians." he managed to croak out, "Broke… treaty. Sorry I wasn't… able to… he…," he spoke no more as the wounds took him to the afterlife. Each person gave a quick prayer for the dead and ran up the stairs. What they saw shocked them.

A kid was fighting against a giant wielding a morning star with several desian bodies around him. It looked as though he had taken a hit to the chest and was barely able to leap out of the way of a killing blow from the giant. They saw him stumble. Lloyd started to run forward but knew he would not be in time to stop the man. Genis started chanting a spell but knew it would be to late. The rescue came in the form of Colette who threw her charka at the mans head.

The momentary distraction allowed the boy to plant a kick in the midsection of the giant to send him back about 5 feet. Ranma jumped over to the trio. "Thanks guys, now lets take this fat guy out."

When in combat, united against a common enemy, no words are needed to convey thoughts and feelings. Lloyd and Ranma both knew that they were on the same side and they were going to take this guy down, one way or another.

**To Be Continued**

A/N: Yeah I know that I am a jerk for leaving a cliffhanger right here but this seemed like a good place to stop. As for the next chapter, Ranma and company will meet with Kratos the 'mercenary' and Ranma will get a little lesson in humility. Since my e-mail system on this computer is really messed up I am going to answer some critic questions here.

For those of you who don't know, an exsphere is a gem that is inserted into a hand that awakens the dormant capabilities of that human. Basically, it's a power boost. However, if the gem is put directly onto your skin, it poisons your whole body. If you try to remove it, you turn into a monster. To control the poison, you need to have a key crest which will stop it from diseasing your body but will give you the benefits. All desians have these things and so does Lloyd. The only people who can make key crests are dwarves.

As to armedlords comments, remember that the only thing wrong with Raine's key crest was that the charm was worn off, and Lloyd could carve charms.

I also think that a good time for Ranma to start noticing ki would be when Ranma sees Lloyd or Kratos use the Demon Fang.

Finally, during the next chapter, Lloyd will notice the gem and tell Ranma the danger. For god sakes people, I would never turn Ranma into one of those monsters. –shudder-

Tune in next time for: Chapter 3 – Angels, Demons, and Humans


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½, I am merely borrowing him from Rumiko Takahashi and now that he is under my power, I can bend him to my will! Muhahahahaha.

-Gets hit over the head with a mallet-

Ranma: Get on with the story!

ClanCrusher: Heh heh, sorry about that. Anyway, I do not own Tales of Symphonia either but I can still make Lloyd do whatever I want him to do.

-Gets hit over the head with a bokken-

Lloyd: I'm warning you

ClanCrusher: Allright, allright geeze. You guys need to take a chill pill. (Looks around and sees Lloyd and Ranma brandishing weapons) On with the story! I'm outta here.

**Ranma and the Land of Symphonia**

Chapter 3 – Angels, Demons and Humans

Lloyd, Ranma, Genis and Colette assessed their opponent. He had recovered quickly from the blow Ranma landed on him and was ready for more. He charged forward and the quartet jumped out of the way. Lloyd immediately got in close and did his hack and slash routine to the guys chest.

The giant brought one of his gauntleted hands and was able to fend off most of the stikes. Bringing his morningstar behind his head he was about to let loose but found that Ranma had jumped behind him and grabbed the business end of the weapon with a strength that contradicted his small stature.

In his distraction, Lloyd was able to leap up and plant both wooden swords in the mans face. Slightly staggered from this blow he backed up right into Ranma, who performed a leg sweep and knocked him down.

There is a saying that the bigger they are, the harder they fall and this man was really big. Ranma retreated back a few steps just at the time Genis released his fireball, hitting the prone man right in the chest, making him slightly scorched and uncomfortable in the metal armor that was heating up.

"Little rats!" He shouted and got up swinging his morning star. Ranma was able to get out of the way. Lloyd got clipped on the shoulder and was sent reeling back. The giant charged towards Genis who was busy chanting another spell and wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time.

However he had not seen the charka until it was too late and hit him squarely in the eye. Lloyd saw an opportunity and released the Demon Fang, special sword attack from his blades.

Ranma was temporarily shocked when Lloyd shouted out the attack. How did that kid manage to do that? He knew that he could use ki to increase his physical abilities beyond that of a normal human but he didn't know it could be used in such a manner. He would have to experiment later. Right now…

The energy traveled along the ground and hit the man squarely in the leg and dissipated. Ranma wasted no time in going over there and planting a flurry of kicks into the back of the mans legs dropping him to his knees. It was at this time that Genis unleashed his spell at point blank range directly into the mans face. Lloyd followed up with several strikes to the mans head.

The giant desperately tried to get up, to try and keep fighting but a final attack from Ranma aimed at his head ended his thoughts. The man's head could only take so much punishment, he collapsed to the ground.

Ranma walked over to where Lloyd was taking a breather and initiated a conversation. "Hi, my names Ranma." He stuck out his hand.

Lloyd took the offered hand and shook it. "Lloyd Irving. You had some nice moves out there."

"Likewise." Said Ranma. He was impressed with that Demon Fang technique. Lloyds moves seemed original and self taught. He didn't stick to a form anyway.

Lloyd caught sight of Ranma's hand as he withdrew from the handshake. "You have an exsphere!" he exclaimed surprised.

Ranma took a look at his hand and shrugged. "So that's what this thing is called. Those desians attached this thing to me when I came to the ranch."

The short, silver haired kid known as Genis spoke up, "You escaped from the ranch? How?" he asked excitedly with a hint of awe in his voice.

Ranma shrugged again. "I jumped over the wall. No big deal really. Then I followed these people to see what they were up to."

Lloyd however was still concentrating on Ranma's exsphere. "You know that's dangerous don't you?" he asked in a serious voice. Though Lloyd was not academically gifted, he could recite to you anything about exspheres as if it was taken from a textbook. "Attaching an exsphere to your bare skin without a key crest will slowly poison your body eventually killing you."

Ranma was shocked. "You mean to tell me that this thing is poisoning my body?" He shouted. He picked up a rock on the ground and was about to smash his hand if need be to get at the crystal when he found his hand restrained by Lloyd.

"The only safe way to remove it is with a key crest. If you try to remove it that way, the poison will only act more quickly." Lloyd was relieved to see that Ranma had calmed down.

Ranma regained control of himself. He knew next to nothing about exspheres and key crests so he had to trust this red armored Lloyd fellow for now. Coming to that conclusion, Ranma asked the next obvious question. "Where can I find one of these key crests?"

Lloyd continued, "The only people who can make these key crests out of inhibitor ore are the dwarves. Unfortunately most of them are underground in hiding." Ranma's face fell, "Fortunately for you, my dad is a dwarf. I'm sure that he could probably make you one." Ranma's face instantly brightened.

"I hardly know you and your already helping me out. What can I do to repay you?" asked Ranma.

Lloyd just smirked, "Dwarven Vow #2- Never abandon someone in need." Colette having finished her examination of the downed priest and determining he would live walked up behind Lloyd. Lloyd introduced both of the people. "This are my fiends Colette the chosen one and Genis the magic user."

Ranma gaped at this little statement. This girl was the chosen of regeneration? The fate of the world rested on her shoulders? That was a little much to handle. "Your really the chosen?" asked Ranma without thinking.

"Let me guess, you were expecting some old fart with a sense of 'I am more holy than thou art' type of aura weren't you?" stated Genis.

"Well… yeah." Said Ranma slightly embarrassed. In fact, that was exactly what he was expecting. Aside from the crystal in her throat, she didn't really look the part.

The girl looked a little downcast. "I guess I'm not very chosen like am I?"

Ranma, true to form, couldn't stand to see a girl depressed. "No no no, its not like that." He said out loud, "Just because you don't look all holy and great doesn't mean anything. I'm sure you'll do just fine as a chosen. Not to mention you have a wicked aim with that charka of yours." Ranma said, praying to the kami that he said the right thing. Fortunately it seemed to work as she looked visibly happier.

"Thank you um…" she trailed off.

"Ranma Saotome of the school of Anything Goes Martial Arts." He supplied.

"Thank you Ranma." She completed.

Ranma turned back to Lloyd. "So what exactly are you doing here?"

"Well, we wanted to go check up on the temple. Today is the day the chosen, Colette here, is supposed to receive the blessings of the angels to start her journey of world regeneration. We were supposed to stay in class but…" he trailed off looking a little embarrassed.

"Makes sense that you were curious. I'm glad you showed up when you did though." Said Ranma, "So tell me, how did you use that Demon Fang attack? I sensed some sort of energy being used in it."

"Oh this?" Lloyd demonstrated the technique again. "All you have to do it channel your ki through your exsphere. It serves as a focus and can help you use ki attacks easier."

Ranma did not like free power ups, but he always liked to try new techniques. Finding his center he looked within himself to find his life energy. With the help of the exsphere he was able to locate it much faster. Taking some of the energy, he channeled it into his fist to where the exsphere was. He was rewarded when his hand started to glow blue, but try as he might he could not release the energy from his fist. Frustrated he punched the ground and was surprised to find himself sitting in a 2 foot crater. Smiling now, Ranma released his hold on the energy and it faded from view. That was a useful technique.

"You picked up on that pretty quick." Commented Genis, slightly impressed. "I tried doing that kind of stuff but I never had the skill for weapons. I turned to magic instead." He said showing his kendama to Ranma.

"Yeah I could tell that wasn't ki, what was that?" he asked Genis.

"Magic requires spiritual and mind energy. That's why Lloyd here cant do it. He doesn't have any."

"Hey!" protested Lloyd. Genis chuckled to himself. It was obvious to Ranma that this was all in good fun. However, the introduction ceremony was interrupted by a new face.

"So you managed to defeat my guards. Most impressive." Said the man Ranma knew as Botta.

Lloyd's demeanor immediately changed from casual friend to serious diplomat. "How dare you desians violate the non-aggression treaty." He drew his swords while Ranma and the others tensed up, preparing for a fight. Unlike the man before, this one knew what he was doing. He had an aura of hidden power and one of those gem thingies on his sword hilt. He also had several backup guards. It looked to be a tough fight but then…

Another man appeared. He jumped in front of Lloyd and Ranma with a steel blade drawn. Ranma almost felt overwhelmed by the amount of power this man had. His aura was huge. Ranma blinked and then found that the aura was gone. Replaced by one of normal size. Ranma and Lloyd shook their heads to clear them. It must have been an energy spike of some sort.

The man didn't even waste a glance at Lloyd's company. He turned towards the man named Botta and his company of guards. His stance alone gave off a feeling of command and power. "Is the chosen all right?" he asked. Hell, even his voice made you want to obey him and listen to his orders.

"I'm all right, thank you." Said the ever trusting Colette.

"Good." Was all the man said before turning back to the arrayed troops.

Ranma noticed Botta recoil in shock. "Damn. I never expected you to be here." He addressed the soldiers, "Retreat for now." That said the entire battalion ran off.

The man turned and Ranma got a good look at their rescuer. He was about 10 years Ranma's senior but his eyes held an ageless quality to them. This man was no stranger to death and all of its lesser functions. He also seemed to be a man of power if he could send Botta running just by showing up.

The man then walked over to the priest who had been forgotten in the entire mess. Concentrating for a second he raised a glowing hand and brought it to the chest wound the priest had. Said wound healed almost instantly.

Ranma watched in fascination. There was a technique he would like having exsphere be damned. He could already see the possibilities. Once the wound was healed the priest got up and addressed the man. "Excuse me sir may I inquire your name?" he asked.

The man seemed to ponder for a moment before responding. "You may call me Kratos." He finally replied.

Ranma, Lloyd, Genis and Colette all approached Kratos. Lloyd was the first to speak up. "Thanks for your help back there." He said, "I don't think we could have taken them,"

Kratos only gave a slight nod in response before returning to the priest. "Where are the chosen's guardians?" he asked the priest.

"The fellow priests that were supposed to accompany her were all killed by the desian raiding party. If it is alright then I would like to purchase your services. You seem to be a fair hand with a sword and you have the look of a mercenary about you."

"Very well I accept." He then turned towards Colette. "We will begin immediately. Let's proceed chosen one."

Ranma and Lloyd both raised cries of protest at this. "Hey I want to come too!" said Lloyd closely followed by Ranma saying, "I want to help her as well."

Kratos looked undaunted but his tone broke no argument. "You will only get in the way. Stay here."

Ranma looked ready to hit him but Lloyd cut off any retort he made. "Alright then, we will follow you by ourselves then." Kratos did not look put off in the slightest.

"Fine, do what you will." And with that Kratos walked into the temple interior.

-Damn, he's one stuck up jerk- thought Ranma to himself. But with that aura he saw earlier maybe he had a good reason to be. He would have to challenge him to a match later.

Ranma, Lloyd, Genis, and Colette all followed Kratos into the temple.

Ranma dodged the spiders web that threatened to ensnare him. He and the party he was with had been battling monsters pretty much non-stop ever since they entered the temple. Ranma killed the spider by bringing his fist on top of the spiders skull. To his side he saw Kratos easily sidestep a swing from a zombie and decapitate it. He moved with a fluid grace that came only with years of practice.

The last of the enemies fell to Lloyd's sword. Although he was not on par with Ranma and Kratos in skill sense, he knew how to use a sword. He had his own style of swordsmanship that made him unpredictable but he was still a bit inexperienced. He had potential though.

Genis was a different matter entirely. His spells were powerful and did a lot of damage to the enemy but they required complete concentration. If he got hit once then he would have to start over which proved to be quite a bother. He also seemed unable to move outside his aura field that he generated when he was casting a spell. This left him extremely vulnerable to attacks unless someone was guarding him while he was casting the spell. In close combat he was hopeless. His weapon was meant for magic casting, not for close range fighting.

Colette was a different matter. Other than her charka attacks she didn't seem to have any really special attacks. Ranma wondered briefly at this. She was the chosen wasn't she? Shouldn't she have some sort of mystic power? As he looked at her he saw another zombie approach her. With a look of determination she concentrated for a second then said "POW HAMMER" and lo and behold out of nowhere a small hammer materialized and hit the zombie on the head, knocking him out. She moved in close with her charka to finish him off.

Ranma nearly fell over laughing. What kind of a move was that? Materializing a hammer out of thin air, what kind of fool would try that on a real human and who would be stupid

enough to stand in the way for that matter?

Somewhere in Nerima, a certain violent, maniac tomboy sneezed.

Ranma suddenly sneezed for some reason he couldn't comprehend. He shrugged and returned his concentration to the fight. They came back to the intersection where there was a three way split. Originally they had gone left and ran into a dead end and had to fight their way back through a horde of monsters that had gotten between them. Even with his new ki technique Ranma's fist was getting sore.

Kratos looked over to where Ranma was standing massaging his fist. He withdrew something and threw it at Ranma who reflexively caught it. It was a pair of bronze gauntlets. "Wear those." He said, "The monsters are only going to get tougher."

"Thanks." Said Ranma as he placed them on his hands. He then ducked a blow from another zombie, performed a leg sweep and Lloyd moved in to finish it off.

"Why are all these monsters here anyway?" complained Lloyd, "I thought this temple was supposed to be a holy place or something like that."

"The path of a chosen is fraught with peril. You must learn to overcome all obstacles, for only then will she be strong enough to perform the ceremony of world regeneration." Said Kratos.

I've heard my old man say that many times, but it makes a lot more sense when he says it thought Ranma to himself. After clearing the monsters at the intersection the group decided to go left. The corridor was small and only three people could walk abreast at a time. Kratos, Lloyd and Ranma took the front with Genis and Colette behind.

One slime like creature and a ghost stood between them and the stairs. Ranma ducked a swing from the ghost who drew a hammer from out of nowhere. It seemed to be a sort of fashion around here for some reason. Beside him Lloyd had blocked the slimes weak attack and both him and Kratos had moved in with their swords.

Genis had just finished casting his fireball. Fortunately two of the three projectiles hit the ghost, disintegrating it. Unfortunately the third fireball hit Ranma who couldn't get out of the way in time.

"My pants are on fire! My pants are on fire!" shouted Ranma who was desperately shaking his pant leg.

"Don't worry I'll take care of it" shouted Genis, "Aqua Edge!"

Several disks of water hit Ranma. Fortunately it put out the fire, while making Ranma soaked in the process. His look towards Genis promised a lot of pain.

"Don't worry, I'll dry you off" said Genis again, "Wind Cutter!"

Several blades of wind appeared around Ranma. Fortunately it dried him off. Unfortunately it gave him several cuts in the process.

"Geeeeniiiiisssss!" Ranma said in a low menacing voice, "Get back here you little runt!" he shouted as Genis ran down the stairs. Lloyd and Kratos sweatdropped.

A Couple Minutes Later-

The party entered the underground portion of the temple. There was several paths that had holes in them and there was a steep drop off right next to the paths that seemed to go on forever. Directly in front of them…

"Hey!" said Genis, "That must be the legendary sorcerers ring!" He pointed to the ring displayed on the pedestal.

"So what's so legendary about it?" asked Ranma.

"Um… well… that doesn't matter. Lets get it." Genis said hurriedly.

"Right," Said Colette, "If they put it in this temple then it must be able to help us get to the oracle room."

Genis and Colette ran forward followed by Lloyd and Ranma but then…

"STOP" Kratos shouted. This shocked everyone into standing still which was luck because a huge pile of rocks fell right in front of Genis and Colette.

"That was close thanks Kratos." Ranma moved towards the rock piles.

"Get back." Said Kratos while drawing his sword. Ranma was puzzled but got ready for battle anyways. He didn't see any monsters.

Ranma got his answer as the stone pile suddenly came to life. It split into three separate masses and formed into three giant stone golems twice the height of a human. Ranma, Lloyd, Genis, and Colette backed up, getting out their weapons.

"You have got to be kidding me." Said Ranma. He charged his gauntlet with ki and moved to attack.

**To Be Continued…**

A/N: After reading some of the reviews, I had to revise this chapter slightly. I am going to warn you now that I am not going to be following the game by the letter. I will improvise where I deem necessary. Thank you Max Krugman for your advice, for I have to admit that you are right. As always, C&C is always appreciated, flames will be put out with my aqua edge.


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. I don't own Ranma ½ or any of its characters. I don't even own this computer. It belongs to my grandfather. The only thing that I own is the clothes on my back… oh wait, these belong to Ranma.

Ranma: Give those back!

ClanCrusher: Anyways folks, on with the story. (Runs off stage left)

Ranma: Get back here!

The stone pile suddenly came to life. It split into three separate masses and formed into three giant stone golems twice the height of a human. Ranma, Lloyd, Genis, and Colette backed up, getting out their weapons.

"You have got to be kidding me." Said Ranma. He charged his gauntlet with ki and moved to attack.

The golems were big, they were powerful, they looked menacing but they were slower than molasses. Ranma easily jumped over one of the blows and retaliated with a strike to its midsection and found another fact.

CLANG!

They were hard. Ranma's impact made a crack but nothing more. Ranma evaded the next strike and had to move out of the way of a third strike from the second golem that was attempting to blind side him.

Meanwhile Kratos and Lloyd had engaged one golem each. Kratos seemed to have no trouble whatsoever as his ki charged blade was easily cutting the stone while he was avoiding the blows. One strike took the golems arm off. Kratos ducked a second strike from his opponents remaining arm and slashed several times at its midsection.

Lloyd had been able to catch his golem off guard when it tried to attack Ranma. He took the opportunity to make several slashes into the golems back. The offense was short lived as the golem made a spinning maneuver and lashed out with his arms in a whirlwind type attack. Lloyd ducked between his opponents legs and released two slashes with his duel swords. Although they were wood they did damage. The golem then tried a sitting maneuver in an attempt to crush Lloyd who was able to get out of the way in time.

Lloyd unleashed his 'Demon Fang' and sent the golem staggering back into the one Ranma was facing. Ranma, seeing an opportunity, jumped over the two golems and planted a kick into the midsection of the golem Lloyd was facing, initiating the domino effect, sending Ranma's golem over the edge.

Genis finally released his spell. All 3 aqua disks his the golem squarely in the chest blasting several rocks out of its body. Loosing its vital pieces caused the golem to collapse.

Kratos concentrated for a second and his blade glowed a faint blue. He stepped back from the golem's initial blow and then unleashed 'Sonic Thrust' right into the middle of the golem. The thrust blew out his opponents midsection, collapsing the golem.

"That was easier then I thought it would be," Said Ranma.

Kratos was thinking to himself. The style Ranma was displaying was unique. He had been around as a mercenary and seen all types of fighting and martial arts but this kid brought it to a new level. He recognized several different fighting styles and yet some were unknown even to him. Even with the exsphere the kid was displaying an extraordinary level of strength to crack the golem with one strike using blunt trauma.

"Ranma." Spoke Kratos.

Ranma was shocked to be personally addressed by Kratos. Despite calling out the names of his attacks occasionally, he barely spoke. "Yeah?" he asked nervously.

"I have a couple of questions for you before we continue." His tone said that there would be no argument. "First of all, where do you come from?"

-Great- thought Ranma. He knew this question was going to be brought up sooner or later. "Do you know where Tokyo is?" asked Ranma hopefully.

The blank look he received was his only answer.

"I'm kinda wondering that too." Said Lloyd, "I've never seen you in Iselia village before."

Ranma sat down on one of the remains of the golem. "Take a seat," he said, "This is going to take a long time." And he proceeded to give them a general outline of his life, starting with his training trip, although excluding the neko-ken experience.

Surprisingly, the entire group seemed to take it in stride. After all, magic in Symphonia was common place so a person from another dimension was not to hard to believe.

Kratos remained emotionless quietly assessing the information. Anything Goes Style? He had heard that name from someone else but couldn't quite put his finger on it. However this man Genma, if he ever met him, would taste the end of his steel blade if he ever met him. Kratos admitted to himself that he was never a good father but what Genma did was beyond belief. There would be time to think of that later however.

Lloyd was in a state of disbelief after hearing of Genma's version of 'training' from Ranma. –Maybe it was better that he got sent here rather than stay with that person he calls father. Who knows what kind of trouble he would have had if he stayed.-

ACHOO! ACHOO! ACHOO! ACHOO!

Somewhere in another dimension four girls sneezed suddenly. Ukyo burned an Okanomiyaki, Shampoo slipped off the challenge log, Kodachi inhaled some of her own paralysis powder and Akane sneezed on her cooking and continued cooking, oblivious to everything.

Lloyd walked up to Ranma and put a hand on his shoulder. "If you don't have anywhere else to go, you can always stay with me and my dad."

"Well I wouldn't want to intrude…" Ranma began hesitantly.

Lloyd cut him off, "Think nothing of it. You can stay until you find a way back to your home world."

"Thanks. I owe you a lot already," Said Ranma. He was still depressed about being forced out of his home world but he was making friends here, something he never got to do on the road with his pop.

Colette was also horrified at what Genma had done. It was a wonder Ranma survived some of the things Genma put him through such as being thrown off a 2 story building to learn how to fall right, being chased by wolves with meat strapped to yourself to increase speed, being bashed repeatedly into a tree to improve endurance, fighting his father while he was drunk to counter opponents who didn't fight fair, sparring with him for three days straight to learn how to fight when fatigued, stealing from food vendors in the guise it was training and Kami knows what else.

Colette approached Ranma and said in a voice contrary to her childlike nature, "Ranma, I know that you are sad about leaving your home world but believe me when we say that you are better off without your father. Just so you know, you will always have friends here." So saying, she stuck out her hand.

"Yeah, me too!" said Genis, who also offered his hand.

Ranma felt a rush of gratitude towards their words. He took the offered hand, "Thanks Colette. You to Genis," He said and gave them a small smile.

"If you are all rested then we must continue onwards." Said Kratos. He clipped his sword and sheath to his belt. Everyone else stood up, gathered their things and continued up the flight of stairs.

The group reached the top of the flight of stairs at the end of the path. They didn't encounter any more enemies. At the top of the flight of stairs they found a pedestal that had a ring on it.

"That's the legendary sorcerers ring!" exclaimed Genis.

Lloyd walked over to the ring and put it on. "Yeah that's nice but what does it do?" He balled his hand into a fist and thrust it outward. A small fireball emitted from the ring, went about 3 feet and extinguished. "That's cool!"

"Take it along. It will be the key to getting past many barriers in this temple." Said Kratos, putting on the wise and all knowing act.

"You know that your just gonna get bored with it sooner or later," Said Genis dryly to Lloyd.

"Yeah but this thing is great!" He made another fireball appear, unfortunately Ranma was in the way.

"AHH MY SHIRT'S ON FIRE!" yelled Ranma as he shook his sleeve.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it," said Genis, "AQUA EDGE!"

**One Painful and Violent Scene Later…**

"Ranma," addressed Kratos. Ranma looked towards him, "You should get armor more resistant to flame. You don't want to go through this every time you get hit with a fireball."

The old Ranma would have disagreed saying armor restricted movement. This new Ranma, however, had just been on the receiving end of all the elements of magic, minus thunder. He nodded in understanding towards Kratos.

After the episode with the sorcerers ring the group had made their way back to the first floor. After they had grabbed the ring from the pedestal, the monsters seemed to come out in full force so it had been a constant battle to the stairs.

Finally they made it back to the temple's main room back at the three way intersection. Left had proved to be a dead end, they had just come from the right so that left the center fork. Strangely they found it devoid of enemies. After a minute of walking, they came upon a barrier which they couldn't pass. Ranma drew back his fist to strike it but…

"Don't bother, it wont work," Said Kratos without looking. "Lloyd?" He let the question trail off as he looked at Lloyd.

Lloyd stood there for a second, then two, then three, then, "Oh!" he exclaimed finally. He balled his fist with the ring on it and let loose with a fireball towards the barrier. The barrier disintegrated almost instantly.

"That's all it dose?" He asked to no one in particular, "Well that's kind of boring."

Genis sighed, "I knew it."

Beyond the barrier was a teleporter. Kratos and Colette walked up to it and went in, followed by Lloyd and Genis. Ranma hesitated a little remembering the last time he went through a teleporter but followed after them.

**The Seal Room**

The teleporting experience wasn't as bad as last time. It was still a bit painful though. Everyone in the room was tense as if waiting for something to happen. All of a sudden a voice from out of nowhere spoke.

"Colette, chosen of mana and world regeneration. Offer your prayers at the alter."

"Yes." Was all she said. She kneeled down before the circular platform and started to pray. It was then that Ranma laid his eyes for the first time upon an Angel. A bright flash of light heralded his coming.

It was just like the legends. He had wings, he had robes, and he had an aura that radiated holiness. He stayed in the air flapping his wings occasionally to stay afloat. Then he spoke.

"I, Remiel come as the herald of good news. Colette has been accepted as the chosen of mana. We of Cruxis bless this event and herby bestow the tower of salvation upon Sylvarant."

Everyone, except Kratos, turned towards the window to see a huge tower, giant beyond belief reach towards the heavens and beyond. Further view of the tower was obstructed by the clouds in the sky. There didn't seem to be any top to it at all.

"The first seal lies to the south. Good luck Colette." So saying Remiel started to float upwards but Colette had one more question for him.

"Wait, Remiel. Is it true? Are you really my fat…?"

"The first seal lies to the south. Good luck, my beloved daughter, Colette." As he finished he rose up a bit further, and in a flash of light, was gone.

**To Be Continued…**

A/N: Ok I lied. I was able to get one more chapter off after all. I hope you enjoyed it. All C&C is greatly appreciated and Ranma here is taking care of my flames.

Ranma: AHH MY SHIRT'S ON FIRE!

ClanCrusher: Heh heh. Anyway, the next update wont be for a while yet. You could take that time to play the game. It's very interesting. Till Next time…


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½, I do not own Tales of Symphonia. If I did, I would be living the rich and easy life and not bother writing fanfiction about it. Since I don't, I have to be content with writing twisted and evil stories about my favorite characters. In other news…

Ranma: Get to the story you baka!

Lloyd: We've been waiting for 3 weeks! Hurry up!

ClanCrusher: Allright already. (mutters) impatient little…

Ranma: What was that?

ClanCrusher: Nothing! Here we go!

Ranma and the Land of Symphonia 

**Chapter 5: Ranma vs. Kratos**

"Man that's big." Said Ranma master of the obvious as he looked at the tower of salvation.

Everyone was silent for a moment until, "If we are done here," spoke Kratos, "I suggest we leave." He addressed Colette, "You have a long journey ahead of you and you should take the next two days to rest and set your affairs in order." He walked into the teleporter and disappeared.

Lloyd looked steamed and was about to go on a rant about Kratos but Colette interrupted him, "Ranma, Genis, Lloyd?" All three looked towards her, "Thank you for coming with me. Could you please come to my house later?"

"Sure thing." Lloyd turned to Genis, "We should be getting back to class. I hope we can get there before the professor finds out that we're gone. You coming?" The question was aimed at Ranma.

-Not like I have anywhere else to go- thought Ranma, "Sure thing." All three went through the teleporter and started walking back towards the entrance. They didn't encounter any monsters.

"You know," commented Lloyd as they were walking, "It must be pretty hard to be an angel."

"Why's that?" asked Ranma genuinely curious. His school of martial arts involved a lot of midair combat and he figured that things like their wings would be a huge advantage in fighting.

"Their wings," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "They would have to cut holes in the back of all their shirts. You would have a heck of a time changing, not to mention they would always be getting in the way when you sleep and sit down in chairs."

Ranma was at a loss for words at the moment but Genis however, "So how long have you been thinking about this?"

"Hey!" Protested Lloyd. Further discussion was cut off by a new voice as they reached the central chamber.

"MARVELOUS!" Standing in the middle of the room was a woman with silver hair like Genis and dull orange coat and pants. She had her back to them but Ranma noticed Lloyd and Genis pale a bit.

"P-p-professor Raine!" Lloyd stammered

"Sis, what are you doing here?" asked Genis

Raine turned around and Ranma noticed a maniac glint in her eye before her gaze hardened as she looked at Lloyd and Genis.

"And what," she stated dangerously punctuating each syllable, "are you two doing out of class?"

"Uh-Oh." Was all Genis had time to say before Raine had him over her knee. She then delivered several slaps into his rear end. Ranma and Lloyd respectfully turned their backs to them.

When Raine was finished she turned her gaze to Lloyd. He shivered under her gaze, "Your turn." She said.

"Wha…!" shouted Lloyd before Raine executed a perfect kick into his face. He flew five feet back into the temple wall and slumped to the ground.

"Ow sis, that hurt," complained Genis while rubbing his backside. (if you haven't figured it out by now Genis and Raine are siblings)

Ranma closed his mouth that was hanging open. He had seen Lloyd fight and although it wasn't perfect it would still take a lot of strength and skill to knock Lloyd over in one shot.

Raine pulled a staff from out of nowhere and pointed it at Ranma's throat who put up his hands in a warding gesture, "And you," she began but then her expression changed from anger to confusion, "I've never seen you around here before, who are you?"

Ranma gave his classic greeting while putting his hand on the back of his head, "I'm Ranma Saotome, sorry about this."

Raine considered that for a moment then put her staff away. She couldn't his him until she knew him well enough. Oh well, she would just have to get to know ­him better. That wouldn't be so bad considering… her thoughts trailed off on that line of thinking.

"Professor why are you here?" asked Lloyd. Apparently he had recovered from the kick that Raine gave him and was walking, if a bit disoriented.

"The mayor gave me permission to investigate these ruins. It's a great opportunity for someone who isn't a priest or the chosen." As she spoke she seemed to regain that maniac glint in her eye that Ranma first saw on her. She turned back to Ranma with her cold stare in place, "So what exactly are you doing in the temple?"

Ranma was afraid of few things in life. He had faced all manner of wild animals trying to kill him and had been in more life and death situations then he could remember but when Raine turned that cold gaze on him it sent shivers up his spine, "I just followed Lloyd and Kratos into the temple, I'm not really sure what I'm doing here." It was mostly the truth, he had wanted to repay the favor to Colette for saving him.

-Privileged my foot, they'll let any person come in the temple nowdays- thought Raine, "Lloyd, Genis, please go back to the village," she turned to Ranma, "As for you, I don't know who you are but you don't look like a priest. I'm sorry but your not allowed to be in here, I'm not sure what happened but I think that it is best that you left for right now." Finished, she walked into the temple interior.

Ranma was looking a little crestfallen until Genis came up behind his and said, "Don't mind her, she's a teacher and a real stickler for the rules."

"Not to mention a good shot." Grumbled Lloyd while rubbing his chin.

They had gotten to the entrance when they heard a sound from where the professor was.

**MUHAHAHA!**

"What was that?" asked Ranma 

"Trust me," said Genis, "You don't want to know."

The trio walked out of the temple grounds and onto a stretch of field. There were several varieties of animals that seemed to do nothing other than wander aimlessly around the field. Some were even brave enough to attack them. One particular battle…

"Okay," stated Ranma dodging a wolf's charge, "Wolves I can understand," Ranma brought his fist down on the wolf's head, crushing its skull and killing it, "Snakes are also understandable," he continued as Lloyd dodged the snakes bite and chopped it's head off, "I can even go so far as to understand these birds," Genis performed a wind cutter and cut the bird to ribbons.

"But what I don't understand," he said angrily as he dogged his assailants attacks, "Is why the heck these damn rabbits are attacking us!" He dogged another double kick from the rabbit and nailed it with an uppercut sending it into LEO.

"Ya know," said Lloyd thoughtfully as he sheathed his sword, "I never really thought about that."

Genis was looking at the shooting star rabbit, "I think you kinda spliced your shot there."

Ranma sweatdropped.

The party was almost to the village when Lloyd made a sudden realization, "Whoops. I forgot to return the sorcerers ring."

"Moron." Muttered Genis.

"Do I have to give it back?" he asked. The question seemed to be directed at them but neither of them knew quite how to respond.

"You know that you are going to get bored with it eventually." Said Genis

"Not like their going to need it." Ranma said. As far as he was concerned the sorcerers ring was generally useless unless it was used to annoy the hell out of someone, like him.

"Yeah," continued Lloyd, "This thing is so cool!" he shot off another fireball in Ranma's direction who bent over at an almost 90 degree angle to avoid it.

"Watch it!" he shouted while shooting a glance at Genis kendama. Further discussion was cut off as they were hailed by the village guards and entered Iselia Village.

Ranma took in his surroundings as he was trained to do but immediately relaxed his guard. The village was very mundane. Everything was built using wood of various types. Gardens seemed to be commonplace in front of all of the houses. It gave the village a relaxed and peaceful feeling. There were various dirt paths that ran by the houses and several farms with people working on them.

Genis spoke up, "Hey Lloyd can we stop by my house? I need to get something."

"Sure thing."

Genis and Raine's house was larger than most of the others. It looked like an old remodeled storage place, however the inside was well furnished and gave the place a nice homey feel. While Genis was getting his things Ranma looked around and spotted the bookshelf.

The bookshelf contained several thick volumes with titles such as Advanced Math Therom and Great Archeological Finds. There was also a book titled Magic For Dummies.

"Must be hard to find a good book to read living with a professor and all that," commented Ranma.

"Actually those are mine." Said Genis.

Ranma and Lloyd sweatdropped.

The trio was walking through the village when Ranma asked, "Where is your house Lloyd?"

"I don't live inside the village. My mom died when I was very little and I was found abandoned in the forest. I was found there by a dwarf that lived on the surface named Dirk." Lloyd spoke in such a tone that said he had gone through the story many times before.

"I'm sorry," said Ranma in respect for the dead, "Do you know anything about your father?"

"I've never seen or met my father. I don't know if he is dead or alive. I consider Dirk my father."

They finally reached Colette's house near the end of the village. It was obviously the nicest house in the village with a perfect garden out front and neatly cleaned outside. Ranma, Lloyd and Genis entered the house to find that a crowd was already sitting at the table inside.

Ranma noticed Kratos and Colette but there were three other people he didn't know. Fortunately Genis whispered some commentary, "The person with the stupid hat on and the brown vest is the mayor of Iselia village." He indicated a man at the end of the table.

"Does he have a name?" asked Ranma

Genis thought for a moment, "Not sure," he indicated an elderly couple sitting side by side, "That's Frank and Phaidra, Colette's biological parents."

"Dose that mean Colette has two fathers?" asked Ranma

"Hmm, guess so," responded Genis.

The mayor spoke up, "It is decided then. Raine and Kratos will accompany the Chosen on her journey."

"Are you talking about the journey of world regeneration? I want to go too." Said Lloyd

"Yeah I want to see Colette regenerate the world too." Put in Genis.

Kratos looked straight at Lloyd, "You would only get in the way. It is best if you did not come along."

"Hold on a sec Kratos," broke in Ranma, "Lloyd's technique may be self taught but even you can see the potential he has."

"That may be true but the journey of regeneration is not a training journey." Responded Kratos.

The mayor seemed to regard all three of them with disdain, "The journey of regeneration is a serious matter. It is not to be attempted and bungled by children."

Believe it or not, Ranma was actually a decent judge of character. Although he was not on par with some ice cold mercenaries he could tell who could be trusted to watch his back and who would stick a knife in it. The mayor seemed to him like a person full of arrogance who flaunted his position while not actually doing anything.

"We have important things to discuss so please step outside." Concluded the mayor.

Lloyd finally got fed up and after shooting a dirty glare at Kratos, left the house with Genis trailing behind him. Ranma glared at the mayor and followed after Genis. Colette waited a few seconds then excused herself from the table.

Outside everyone was about to head their separate ways when Colette came outside. Unfortunately she tripped on the stairs leading to her house. Fortunately Ranma was already there to catch her before she fell.

"Thanks." She said as she straightened up. "I really appreciated your help today Lloyd and I would like you to come along on my journey."

Lloyd immediately cooled off as he talked to Colette, "I really want to see you regenerate the world too. When do you leave?"

"Meet us at the front of the village at noon two days from now," she responded.

"Will do." Said Lloyd.

"Oh, by the way," said Genis, "Happy birthday! I baked you some cookies." He handed her a package full of cookies.

"Thank you Genis I always appreciate you cooking." She said while smiling.

"What about you Lloyd? Weren't you going to make her a necklace?" teased Genis.

Lloyd put his hand on the back of his head in a very Ranma like manner, "Eh heh heh, well I almost have it done. I'll get it to you… tomorrow, yeah that's it!"

"Thank you Lloyd, and thank you Ranma for coming with me today. And don't worry about a birthday present for me either." She said the last part to Ranma who was just about to apologize for not having a present. She turned and walked back inside.

Meanwhile inside the house, Kratos was also getting fed up with the mayors attitude. If it wasn't for Colette's personal request for Lloyd to stay behind Kratos would have taken Lloyd along. He would have been a good addition to the team because he was a good protector and a close up fighter. Raine was only good for support, a good healer but a bad fighter and even that was limited since she did not have an exsphere. Colette wouldn't be very useful in a fight either so most of the work would fall on him.

Even Genis would have been a good addition to the team. His magic may be weak right now but a mage with the right training could be absolutely devastating in battle. There was only one person who Kratos could rely on to come along.

Kratos made his excuses and walked out the door to confront Ranma Saotome.

Ranma was about to follow Lloyd to his house when Kratos appeared at the doorway, "Ranma," he stated, "Can I have a private word with you?"

"Uh… sure I guess." Said Ranma uncertainly. Kratos struck him as the type of person who would sooner die than ask favors. The fact that he was left Ranma a little off balanced.

"We'll wait for you here." Said Lloyd. Ranma nodded affirmative.

Ranma followed Kratos past the schoolhouse, outside the village and into a wooded area. When they had reached a clearing in the forest Kratos pulled out a bottle from his belt and opened it. A fine white mist emanated from the bottle.

"What's that?" asked Ranma curiously.

"A holy bottle." He responded, "It will keep the monsters away from us so they wont interrupt us." Ranma noticed several monsters fleeing the vicinity.

Ranma got straight to the point, "What do you want to ask me?" He noticed Kratos fingering the hilt of his sword and tensed up.

"I will get to that but first," he drew a practice sword in one swift movement, "We spar!" Both sides got into ready positions and saluted eachother.

"I was hoping you would say that," said Ranma. It was true that Ranma had wanted to spar with Kratos ever since he saw him fight at Martel Temple. Although he hid it well, Ranma was a well trained martial artist and could tell that Kratos was hiding his true strength.

(For those of you who want to, go to and play the "Kratos Final Fight Music" on Tales of Symphonia)

At an unseen signal both fighters ran at eachother, Ranma throwing a series of light blows, testing Kratos defense. Ranma was not disappointed as Kratos deflected each blow with a minimum of force and retaliated.

Ranma knew that Kratos was holding back but he didn't know just how much until he was forced to block a few blows which came at him to quickly to dodge. Even through his gauntlets he was feeling the force of the blows. Ranma tried to dodge more and block less which proved difficult give the speed at which the blows were coming.

Although it was customary for Ranma to yell out insults during a match he knew right away that he would just be wasting his breath. Kratos was the kind of person who would stay calm while someone shouted in his ear. Ranma rededicated his efforts into finding an opening.

Ranma jumped over another strike from Kratos and placed a hand around his blade. He lashed out with his feet in midair and was able to land a double footed kick into Kratos chest. Kratos staggered back half a step but quickly recovered and twisted his blade free from Ranma's grip.

He danced just out of reach of Kratos retaliatory strikes but failed to notice in time that his sword had a white tinge to it. Without warning a Demon Fang was released from Kratos sword which connected with Ranma's chest.

Ranma jumped back a few feet to recover from the blow and approached with more caution. The ki blasts Kratos fired hurt like hell and there was little warning before one was shot off.

Attacking with greater speed and less strength Ranma came in again with a phenomenal speed. He was holding nothing back now going full out against Kratos with good results. Ranma would attack in one place but was gone and attacking in another before Kratos could connect with his sword. After a minute of this Kratos jumped back about 10 feet out of Ranma's range.

"Impressive." He commented showing no signs of the blows he suffered from Ranma, "Let's get serious."

Ranma came in again and was met midway by Kratos who was now matching his speed. Ranma found himself being put on guard as many times as he was going offensive. It seemed that they were evenly matched in speed. Neither side seemed to gain an advantage.

Ranma faked an attack to the front and drew Kratos sword away from his side where he attacked. Unfortunately the sword which had been at his front had continued in a circle, along with his body, so fast that it left a ki trail behind it. He simultaneously jumped into the air creating a spiral type effect. The final result was several hits all over Ranma's body.

Ranma backed off to get some breathing room. -What the hell was that? I've never seen ki used that way before. I didn't have time to try this out but I don't think that I can win any other way-

Ranma jumped into the trees and started tree hopping in a circle around Kratos building up speed until he was to fast to track. Finally he launched himself directly at him twisting in midair to avoid a Demon Fang released from his blade. Kratos jumped to the side to avoid Ranma but he was prepared for that. Cupping his hands together in midair, Ranma shouted "DEMONIC BLAST" and fired off a pure ki blast at Kratos who erected a ki shield just before impact.

Some people would say that Ranma has no mind for academics and they would mostly be right. However, when faced with a martial art challenge Ranma's learning curve was off the charts. Ever since he saw the Demon Fang Lloyd made, Ranma had been pondering how to make a ki blast.

When he brushed Lloyd's Demon Fang at Martel Temple, he felt a surge of confidence, like he could take on the world. When Kratos hit him with his blast, he felt nothing except intense concentrated pain. Then he had the answer. Lloyd was using emotions as a medium to project his ki while Kratos used no emotions. Ranma had tried to produce that type of ki and was finally able to do it with quite a bit of difficulty by blending all of his emotions together. Confidence, Depression, Anger, Joy, Happiness and Sadness formed together to make emotionless ki. It had taken him about 15 seconds to form it.

Despite having erected a ki shield, Kratos still took about 5 seconds to fully recover from the blow. Unfortunately Ranma had drained up a lot of his reserves and his ki supplies were almost depleted from continuous boosting of his speed and his first pure ki blast, his reserves were almost dry, contrary to Kratos who seemed ready for action, if slightly worn.

"Very impressive for your first ki blast," he commented, "But if memory serves me correctly your are pretty worn out right now." He charged forward again attacking with a slightly lessened speed from before.

To Ranma's credit, he was able to take another 10 blows from Kratos and was able to deal a couple before he lapsed into the peaceful realm of unconsciousness, his ki reserves depleted.

Ranma awoke some time later to a campfire which Kratos was sitting at, drinking some tea. Kratos looked to Ranma and handed him a cup, "Drink this," he said, "It will make you feel better."

Ranma accepted the tea and took a long drink. He was surprised at how noticeably better he felt after drinking it, "Wow, where did you learn to make such great tea?" he asked.

"I've had a few years of practice." He stated. Then he got down to business, "You fought well. Your form is excellent, your speed is phenomenal and even your ki is well focused from someone who dose not have much special training in that area. If there is one god thing that I MUST say about Genma, it is that he taught you well."

"Actually I have the sensei of the school of a Thousand Cuts for my speed training. My pop didn't teach me much beyond the basics. I have the sensei's of several different schools to thank for my martial arts skills." Ranma was thinking of bragging but it didn't sit right with Kratos, especially since Kratos just beat him.

His external appearance gave no sign of change but inside he was thinking -With a father like that, Ranma was lucky to be sent to this world.- Instead he said, "Thanks to those Sensei's, you are a very good fighter. What you lack it proper ki and endurance training."

Ranma was surprised that he was not more angry at loosing to Kratos or by being shown his faults. Perhaps it was the fact that Kratos was a true master of the art and ki disciplines and there was no shame in loosing to him. Only one thing to do, swallow the pride and ask. Without hesitation he asked, "If you can, will you please train me?"

-Now to cinch the deal- thought Kratos, "I will train you if you can grant me one request in return." Ranma nodded, "I wish for you to accompany Raine, Colette, and I on the journey of world regeneration."

Ranma was surprised to say the least. Kratos seemed like the kind of person who would suffer rather than ask for help from someone, "Why?" He asked.

"The journey of regeneration is filled with many powerful monsters. I could handle myself in battle with ease but having to watch out for two mages at the same time would be near impossible for even someone of my skills. I need your help in doing this and that is why I wish for you to come along."

In the short time Ranma knew Colette he had immediately liked her. She was kind, trusting, and caring and almost immediately offered friendship to him. When she was happy, it was hard not to be happy as well, she was just one of those people that just radiated cheerfulness so it was of little surprise that Ranma instantly agreed.

"Good." Said Kratos, he withdrew a bad from his belt and tossed it to Ranma. It was full of coins. "I assume that Lloyd has already offered you a place to stay. Go and get some armor and some rest and have the local dwarf make you a key crest for your exsphere. The chosen's party will leave at 10:00 day after tomorrow."

Ranma thanked Kratos for the money and bowed respectfully like a student to a sensei and ran back to the village.

To Be Continued…

Authors Notes:

Back from 3 weeks of summer camp and up with a new chapter of Ranma in the Land of Symphonia, hope you liked it. This was my first blow by blow non-lethal match ever and I don't know how good it was so I would like C&C on it especially. I know that some of you thought that Kratos shouldn't have won, but hey, with **_that _**much training…

Anyway, in case you didn't notice, I am having the chosen's journey starting day after tomorrow. This will let me use the next chapter to fit in several important storyline plots and a bit extra such as Ranma at school and his Key Crest.

If you have any questions about the official storyline or things that might give the plot away you can e-mail them directly to me so as not to give away the story to other readers who have not played Tales of Symphonia.

I will try to update more often now that I get to stay home for the rest of the summer and if anyone who reviews my stories wants a review in return then I will be happy to comply.

Just because I have to, school of a Thousand Cuts belongs to Jade Empire.

Tune in next time for:

Chapter 6

Trouble at the Human Ranch


	7. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½ or Tales of Symphonia but I do own Tales Of Symphonia, it's a great game and I encourage anyone reading this story who hasn't played the game to do so. It will give you a better understanding although I will try my best to explain it.

Ranma: Hey your right, this is a fun game!

Lloyd: Hey, quit playing as me, your making me look bad!

ClanCrusher: Guys? Hey Guys!

No response.

ClanCrusher: Oh well, looks like I'm not the only one obsessed with the game. On with the story.

The walk back to the village was uneventful except for a few minor creatures that got in his way. He kept replaying the recent fight over and over in his mind trying to see what he could have done differently but for the first time ever he came up blank. Kratos was a true master of swordsmanship and ki manipulation. He was in almost every way, Ranma's better.

Ranma didn't fell bad about this though which was strange. It was probably due to the fact that Ranma now had a challenge to rise up to and meet. Not to mention Kratos said he would train him which made the deal that much sweeter.

Finally he reached the village entrance where Lloyd was waiting for him, "So what did he want?" asked Lloyd expectantly.

Ranma knew better then to tell Lloyd the whole truth. If he told him about the journey then Lloyd would probably be a bit envious, "He wanted to talk about my home world and show me a few martial arts tricks," He invented. It wasn't that far from the truth.

Lloyd's curiosity seemed satisfied for the most part but as they walked back out onto the field he asked, "What did he show you?"

"He told me how to produce a ki blast. It should come in handy later, don't you think?" Ranma raised his hand and formed a ki blast that was made of confidence. He didn't have the time to make a pure one and he didn't want to show off too much.

Lloyd nodded approvingly, "It will come in handy. By the way were you planning on joining the journey of regeneration?"

"I was thinking about it," he said cautiously.

"I think it would be great if you could come." He said excitedly, "Colette asked me to come. Their leaving at noon day after tomorrow."

Ranma took a moment to process this new information. Kratos told him to meet at 10:00 day after tomorrow. Apparently Colette didn't want to hurt Lloyd's feelings by denying him to come along. Ranma felt sorry for Lloyd but he respected Colette wishes and kept silent about his revelation.

They were almost to the forest when they encountered a new creature. It appeared to be a blue and white dog type creature but it was about 3 times the size of one. On all fours it stood just below the height of Ranma and Lloyd. Ranma got into a battle stance, ready to attack but Lloyd hurriedly put a hand on Ranma's shoulder.

"Hey, calm down that's just Noishe, my pet dog." Said Lloyd

"Whine." Noishe agreed

'What kind of a dog is that?' thought Ranma to himself but he lowered his fist anyway.

Noishe approached Ranma cautiously sniffing here and there. Ranma stood still for the inspection. Finally Noishe let out a whine and rubbed it's head against Ranma's chest. Ranma reached his hand forward and petted him softly.

"Do you like animals?" asked Lloyd who looked over the scene with an approving eye.

Ranma thought for a moment, "Well, I'm not much of a cat person," he shivered a bit at this, "But I kinda like dogs." He had never owned a pet on the road but he was already starting to like Noishe.

"Noishe seems quite comfortable around you. He usually doesn't trust this easily." Lloyd commented.

They reached the outskirts of the forest where Noishe abruptly ran off, "What's up with him?" he asked.

"I think that he's afraid of fiends. Don't worry, we'll see him again." He took a quick look around and drew his wooden blade, "Were gonna have to fight some fiends, think your up to it?"

Ranma surveyed the monsters in front of them blocking the path they were walking on, "Bring it." He said.

They arrived some time later at Lloyd's house. It was a moderately sized 2-story house with an adjoining corral which was inhabited by Noishe. Ranma also noticed there was a single grave which was apparently made out to Anna, Lloyd's mother.

Lloyd motioned Ranma inside his house. Inside he saw what looked like a smithy complete with anvil and furnace. Various pieces of equipment hung across the walls, mostly hammers and tongs but there was also a few swords and pieces of armor. The smith himself was standing just barely above an anvil that he was working on with. Despite his height he was swinging the metal smith hammer he had like a toy. He didn't seem to notice them until Lloyd spoke up.

"Hey dad I'm home." Spoke Lloyd.

The dwarf looked up from his work and took in their appearances while wiping his brow, "Welcome back Lloyd, how was school today?" He spoke with a slight Scottish accent.

"It was awesome!" Said Lloyd excitedly, "I was able to help Colette receive the oracle."

"Nice of you to help her. I heard about the desian attack on the temple and wondered if you were ok."

Lloyd indicated Ranma, "Ranma here took out most of them before Colette, Genis, and I even arrived."

"Well met Ranma! Names Dirk." He extended his hand towards Ranma who took off his gauntlet and accepted it. He was mildly surprised to find that Dirk had a huge amount of strength in his handshake.

"Likewise." Said Ranma.

"He doesn't have a place to stay so I was wondering if he could bunk here for the night." Said Lloyd.

"I don't see a problem with that," said Dirk. He noticed Ranma's un-gauntleted hand had a keyless exsphere on it before Ranma replaced the gauntlet.

Ranma withdrew the bag of coins that Kratos gave him and presented some to Dirk who only held up his hand in a stop gesture, "It's on the house lad. Consider it repayment for helping Lloyd today."

"I really don't like to freeload," said Ranma uncertainly.

Dirk had encountered people like Ranma before and knew that Ranma was going to feel guilty if he stayed for free so Dirk gave him an alternative, "Well lad, if you insist on paying for something, you can pay me to make you a key crest for your exsphere."

Ranma had forgotten about that but quickly remembered. He reached into the bag and withdrew about three quarters of the gold he received from Kratos, "If it's not to much trouble could you make me some armor as well?" he asked.

Dirk looked over the money offered. It was quite a generous amount, "All right, you got yourself a deal. I'll get started right after dinner."

Dinner was a very basic but very well made meal of meat stew and rice. Ranma treated them all to a show of the Saotome speed eating. It was almost a full 5 minutes before anyone said anything.

As Ranma reached for the serving platter again Dirk grabbed his arm and said, "Slow down a bit lad, the food aint going to walk off your plate now."

Afterwards Ranma did make an effort to eat at a semi-normal pace. At dinner they exchanged stories. Ranma told about his home world and escape from the human ranch finally ending with Martel Temple. Dirk was a little concerned about the desians coming to claim him but he decided not to voice his worries out loud. Day after tomorrow he would be gone from the village on the journey of regeneration, what could happen? After hearing about Genis and his magic wheel he also made a mental note to make Ranma's armor particularly resistant to fire.

Dirk was also sickened by Genma's abusive treatment of Ranma. After Ranma got done with the 5th training exercise Dirk had made a silent vow to place Genma's head on the anvil if he ever got ahold of him. When he finished his story Dirk spoke to Ranma, "He may be your father and all but you are lucky to be away from him."

Ranma was starting to hear this more and more. He was also starting to agree with them. Genma did nothing beyond teaching the basics of martial arts to Ranma and sold him off to feed his fat stomach.

Dirk and Lloyd then began telling Ranma about the land of Sylvarant and the journey of regeneration. Mana was the lifeblood of the planet. Without it, crops wouldn't grow, rain wouldn't fall and the land would be overrun by desians. The chosen would go on a journey of regeneration to restore mana to the land for a time. Apparently the last chosen had failed the journey, killed by the desians, and the land was in desperate need of regeneration.

All this firmed Ranma's desire to become part of the journey to help not only Colette but everyone in the land of Sylvarant. Dirk continued, helped along some by Lloyd, telling him that the chosen would make a journey to all the seals and then finally go to the tower of salvation to regenerate the world.

Finally after finishing the meal Ranma and Lloyd were tired from the days events. Dirk ushered them to the upstairs room where two beds awaited, assuring Ranma his equipment would be done by morning.

Ranma lay awake for a while thinking about how the day had gone. 'Well I'm making a good start in the new world he thought' and with that he went to sleep.

Ranma awoke peacefully for the first time since he was 6. Ever since his dad took him on the training trip for 10 years he had always been awakened by a kick to the stomach or a throw off a cliff.

It was still early so Ranma decided to do his morning practice. Just because he was in a strange new world was not an excuse to slack off in his training. After yawning a few times and doing some stretches he went downstairs fully awake. He was shocked to find that Dirk was already up, either that or he hadn't gone to bed. He was putting the finishing touches on a set of pale blue armor.

"Did you stay up all night?" asked Ranma, amazed that someone would be that dedicated to making a set of armor.

"Nothing to it," said Dirk dismissively, "It comes with the business and it gives you time to try it out. I also made you a new pair of gauntlets." He pointed to a pair of shiny steel gauntlets.

"That wasn't part of the deal," stated Ranma, "There must be some way that I can repay you for those."

"Just hand over your old ones. I can reuse the metal in them," said Dirk with finality, "Now lets see you try it on." He handed the armor to Ranma who accepted wordlessly.

The armor consisted of a light plate mail type. It would give the wearer moderate protection while not restricting movement with it's weight. Dirk had also made him a set of sturdy leather boots. He told Ranma that he was going to be traveling on foot a lot and needed a proper set of shoes for the journey. Ranma could hardly argue with that.

Ranma turned to go outside of the house but Dirk stopped him, "Don't forget this." He held up the completed key crest for his exsphere. With a bit of help he was able to attach it firmly to the exsphere so that it was no longer touching his skin.

"Say Dirk, Lloyd said that this thing," he indicated the exsphere now attached to the key crest, "increased a humans power or something like that."

Dirk seemed to think about his words before he said them, "Yes and no. The exsphere helps are dormant abilities and skills to awaken. Some might consider it a free power up but the abilities still come from inside you."

Whatever Dirk said Ranma still felt as though it were a free power up and he didn't really support those. He moved to take the exsphere and key crest off but was stopped by Dirk's hand.

"You are a true martial artist, wishing to get by on sill alone and not by free power ups but consider this, every desian that you face is going to have an exsphere. You can think of this as putting you on level with them." Ranma still did not looked convinced so Dirk finally said, "If you don't want to do it yourself then can you do it for Colette? She will need all the help she can get, free power or not."

Ranma finally gave in and promised to keep the exsphere, for Colette, if not himself.

Ranma went outdoors to the field to practice. The armor was already becoming a second skin to him for he could hardly notice its weight. He was soon doing advanced katas with just as much grace and speed as before.

The boots took a little more time to get used to, though not much. He usually didn't wear shoes at all when he fought or when he did, he went for comfort to save himself any unneeded sores on his feet. Dirk knew what he was doing, however, and made the boots well padded on the inside. Who would have thought that he was a great leather worker as well as a smith?

An hour later Dirk called him in to breakfast. He was greeted there by a tired Lloyd who was just getting up. Lloyd noticed his new armor and nodded approvingly while saying, "Looks good dad, good job."

Breakfast, like dinner, was a simple but delicious meal of omelets and bacon. Ranma was once again shocked at the cooking skills Dirk seemed to possess. He silently wondered what else the dwarf could do.

After breakfast Dirk pushed some basic school supplies towards Ranma who groaned.

"Ya may be leavin tomorrow but you know right well that the professor is going along with you. You don't be wanting to miss school with you at her mercy." Lloyd unconsciously shivered, probably remembering the injury she had dealt him yesterday.

Ranma couldn't blame him. If yesterday was any indication of her usual behavior he was in for a long trip, it was best not to get her angry before the journey even started. He nodded affirmative to Dirk who threw him and Lloyd a packed lunch.

"We have 10 minutes to get to class," commented Lloyd as they were walking away from Dirk's house, "Race you there!" and with that, he took off with a pace that would rival Ranma's speed.

Ranma was also impressed with his speed. He may be below Kratos and him but he sure could move fast, he ran hard to catch up with him and slackened his pace once he reached him.

Several fiends who were awaiting them on the path were shocked to see two blurs, one blue the other red, run at them with a pace seemingly impossible for a human. They charged straight through all of the fiends, knocking quite a few several yards away.

They got to the classroom with 2 minutes to spare. Raine greeted them as they got in, "Ranma Saotome, nice to see that you will be attending class here," she turned to Lloyd, "And it is also nice to see you on time for the 2nd time this year." This comment was met with a few sniggers from the class.

"Thanks professor." Said Lloyd obliviously.

Lloyd took his seat and Ranma walked to the front of the room and introduced himself, "I'm Ranma Saotome and I'm from er…" he paused for a second not sure how to continue, "… out of town." He finished lamely. This however seemed to be acceptable to Raine and she assigned him a seat between Lloyd and Genis.

The discussion started with geography, mostly relating to the chosen's journey. Ranma and Lloyd stayed awake for the entire part of this lesson, for it was going to be of importance on the journey but as soon as the discussion changed to mathematics it only took about 2 minutes for him to fall asleep. Raine picked up an eraser from the board that Ranma noticed was labeled "Lloyd" and threw it at him, hitting him square in the head.

"Please pick up your water buckets and stand at the back of the class." The way she said it made it sound like it was a usual occurrence, not to mention the buckets were already full and also labeled Lloyd.

Ranma was able to last through mathematics but was similarly asleep by the time that she reached English. Raine looked surprised for a second but then she went to her desk and took out another eraser and a black pen and wrote "Ranma" on it and then chucked it at him.

Still asleep, Ranma raised his right hand and caught the eraser and continued sleeping. Raine was shocked but quickly recovered throwing pens, chalk and another eraser but all of them were deflected by Ranma's seemingly automatic response. The whole class, even Lloyd who just woke up when a stray piece of chalk hit him, was watching him now.

Still betraying no anger Raine went over to Lloyd and took one of his buckets, walked over to where Ranma and Genis, who vacated the seat when he saw the bucket, was sitting and promptly emptied the contents onto the still sleeping Ranma.

Ranma instantly jolted awake and got into an aggressive stance, kicking over a few chairs in the process, but relaxed when he saw who it was, "What did ya do that for?" he protested.

Raine still seemed unfazed by the stance or question, merely saying, "I would appreciate it if you did not sleep in class. Please grab two buckets and stand in the back of the class." Raine walked back to the front of the class and resumed teaching as if nothing had happened.

Afterwards both Ranma and Lloyd were able to stay awake for another 10 minutes before finally falling asleep while standing up. Raine decided to give it up for a lost cause, at least until the chosen's journey began. Then she would have the time to properly educate Ranma Saotome.

Even though he was sleeping, Ranma could still feel a shiver crawl up his spine for some reason.

The rest of the school day was uneventful save for Raine throwing another bucket of water on Ranma because he started snoring. Ranma thought the class was a complete waste of time. Except for the chosen's journey he wasn't interested in the things that professor Raine talked about.

"Say Ranma, would you like to come and train with me? That's what I usually do after school."

Ranma was itching to get out and practice with his new equipment on some enemies so he agreed. With Genis and Colette in tow they proceeded to leave the village but they were stopped by the guards.

"Lloyd Irving, you have a message from the mayor." Said the guard.

"From the mayor? What is it?"

"He asked if any of you had been near the ranch at all and warns you not to go near it."

Colette quickly glanced at Ranma then looked away. Genis, Ranma noticed, had turned a slightly brighter shade of white.

"Nope, none of us had been near the ranch or ever plan to." Said Lloyd and the guard let them pass.

Lloyd went out to the middle of the field and took a bottle from his pack. He opened it and placed it in the center of the field. The bottle released a dark smoke.

"What's that?" asked Ranma.

"That's a dark bottle." Genis responded, "It attracts enemies to it."

"I thought we could use a little warm up since your probably sore from standing in class all day." Said Lloyd

Ranma agreed while preparing himself for a fight. Already he could see enemies zeroing in on their position, attracted by the effects of the bottle.

There was only one way to describe the battle that took place. Endless wave meets unmovable force. Approximately 25 enemies attacked the duo (sometimes quadruple if they got past Lloyd and Ranma) in the short time the bottle lasted and approximately 25 enemies fell beneath the combined powers of Lloyd, Ranma, and sometimes Genis and Colette.

Ranma and Lloyd took a quick breather before facing off against eachother. Each person respectfully saluted the other and began. Ranma immediately noticed a difference between Lloyd and Kratos fighting styles with the sword.

While Lloyd was above average of most swordfighters he had met, his skill fell below average. While his good speed and strength might be more than enough to take down the minor enemies they found and most desians, it was far from Kratos level who fought as though the sword was just another part of his body.

Ranma did not go full out on Lloyd, rather he danced around his blows and struck him lightly when he left an opening. Rather then get angry at this, Lloyd took this as a cue to tighten his defenses and try to attack with more speed, if not more force.

After about 10 minutes of this exercise Ranma jumped over Lloyd's head and swept his legs out from under him. Lloyd got up and bowed to Ranma who did it in return.

"Thanks for the practice session." Said Lloyd. Even though it was brief, Lloyd felt like he had learned something from Ranma.

Colette turned to go back to her house after saying her goodbyes. Ranma and Lloyd turned to the entrance of Iselia Forest but they were stopped by Genis, "Hey Lloyd could I come with you part of the way?"

"Sure, but why?" Asked Lloyd

"I…er…want to visit a friend of mine." He finished lamely.

"Oh I didn't think you had any friends outside of the village except for me." Said Lloyd.

"Sure you can come with us." Finished Ranma. He didn't think it would be that big of a deal if he did.

Ranma and company walked through the forest casually beating off any enemies they encountered. They had ceased to be even a nuisance a long time ago, however this world seemed to produce a never ending supply of fiends that were out for their blood, no matter how weak they were.

When Lloyd had lead Ranma to his house yesterday he had memorized the route so he was a little concerned when he saw Genis take a path that was branching off to the left, "Hey Genis, that's the way to the ranch, wouldn't this be in violation of the non-aggression treaty?"

"The desians already violated the treaty when they attacked the temple! Besides, this will only take a minute." argued Genis.

Lloyd bowed before superior intellect, "Alright but I'm coming with you."

"This could get ugly, I'll come too." Put in Ranma.

Genis led them back to the place that Ranma had hoped never to see again, Iselia Human Ranch. Genis led them off to the left of the front gate where one of the prisoners were waiting. Ranma was shocked to see that it was Marble.

"Marble!" exclaimed Genis running up, "How are you? I saved you some of my lunch."

"It is nice to see you again Genis," she said as she took the food and ate it slowly. She took in his other two companions, "You must be Lloyd, Genis has told me so much about you."

"Nice to meet you." Said Lloyd politely.

"Ah, Ranma. I didn't expect to see you here again."

"You two knew eachother?" asked Genis

"We were cellmates." Explained Ranma.

"Yes, you caused quite an uproar with your escape. The security guards have been in quite a foul mood lately. I believe it was triple guard duty for 3 weeks." She chuckled softly.

"Yeah well serves them right for not paying attention." Said Ranma nonchalant.

As Marble finished the sandwich that Genis brought her Lloyd noticed a gem embedded in her right hand, "You have an exsphere!" he exclaimed.

Marble looked at the back of her hand before saying unconcernedly, "Oh so that's what this silly thing is. What does it do?"

Lloyd then proceeded to give his lecture on exspheres. He may have had no talent for academic work but he could tell you anything about those gems and he could talk about it like it came from a textbook. Ranma wasn't really listening, he had heard it before.

When Lloyd was done, Genis asked him if his dad could make a key crest. Lloyd agreed saying that he would ask his dad. Ranma however, was looking past them at the guards approaching, "Guys we gotta get outta here fast!" he whispered loudly.

"Hey old woman, what do you think your doing over there!" shouted one of the guards.

"I'm sorry I'll get back to work right away." She moved past them but was held up by another guard.

"Who were you talking to?" he asked

"There was no one there." She responded

"Hmm, I don't think that she's being completely honest with us." Said the third, "Take her out back and make her talk."

The trio had caught the whole guards conversation. "Quick we need to see what's happening!" whispered Genis.

"Right," said Lloyd. He pointed to some cliffs over to the right of the gate, "We can climb up there."

Ranma remained silent. He already knew what was happening to her, having seen more than one person suffer the same fate. He followed them up the cliffs which conveniently formed a series of low jumps to the top.

When they got to the top they witnessed the three desians with their whips out taking turns hitting Marble in the back. The weak cloth of the ranch was torn and there were several red marks on her back where the whips struck.

"We have to help her!" Genis exclaimed.

Lloyd closed his eyes in thought for a moment then he opened them and spoke, "Alright Genis, cast fireball and try to hit all three guards. I'll run by the gate and jump of the ledge. You make your way back to the village once the guards are distracted. Ranma?"

Ranma took a good look at the gate and noticed something disturbing. On the gate were a pair of security cameras, "I'll take those out." He pointed to the cameras.

Genis readied his spell and Ranma noticed that all nervousness was gone. He was a mask of concentration and determination that betrayed no emotion. He aimed his fireball perfectly and hit all three desians in the back. At the same time Ranma released two weak confidence blasts and took out the cameras. Lloyd jumped on top of the gate and jumped to the ground just as it opened. Lloyd successfully made his leap off of the cliff and lost them.

Unfortunately Genis stumbled and the desians turned around. Ranma silently cursed, he would have to take those two out or the village woul suffer. Ranma despised killing but he couldn't let these two live or word would get back. Ranma jumped from his perch on the cliff and ran towards the two desians catching them by surprise.

Ranma did not think about what he was doing, he thought about the wrongs the desians committed, mercilessly whipping the slaves for the smallest of things, raiding villages and bringing back more humans to their ranch, and finally killing them off after they had stayed a while (at least that was what he thought. He had seen slaves taken away and never return).

Ranma had charged his fist with ki and delivered a lethal punch to one desian's head. The other two turned around and Ranma unleashed a small Demon Blast into another ones heart, leaving a hole going through his chest. The third one actually had time to get his crossbow out before Ranma kicked it out of his hands and used the same foot to kick him in the throat crushing his windpipe.

Task finished, Ranma followed Lloyd's exit by jumping off the cliff to the left of the entrance, just in time too because the reinforcements were arriving. The cliff was easily 40 feet high but Ranma softened his fall with ki. Coupled with his training and exsphere the fall did little damage, except to the ground around him.

Lloyd had met him at the bottom, "I take it that your jumping off the cliff means that things did not go well."

"No worries, I took out the ones that saw me." Ranma tried to act casual but he was still shaken from what he had done. The desians may have deserved it but Ranma would never enjoy killing humans, or half elves for that matter.

They were quickly joined by Genis who had made it down the hill finally, "That was a little close." Said Genis out of breath.

"Don't worry," said Lloyd speaking for Ranma, "He took out the ones that saw us and none of them saw our faces."

"Thanks a lot Lloyd, you may have saved Marble's life." Said Genis. He looked at the sky and noticed the sun setting, "I have to get home, see you tomorrow at noon, there's no school tomorrow." He walked out of the forest and back to the village.

"We should get heading back to Dirk's place as well." Said Lloyd.

Ranma, still mulling over what had just happened, was surprised when they found the exit to the forest blocked by none other than Kratos. He gave no explanation to why he was there, he only asked that Ranma speak to him for a moment. Ranma accepted slightly confused while Lloyd waited at the entrance.

"I am glad to see you well after your little adventure at the ranch." He said.

'How could he have been there without me noticing?' he thought shocked.

Kratos seemed to read his mind, "It's a stealth technique that I picked up in my travels. With practice you can mask your aura but that's not what's important right now."

"Ranma," he started his tone suddenly becoming more serious, "Do you know what the difference is between a warrior and a martial artist?"

Ranma nodded, he had learned the philosophy from one of his many teachers in the martial arts. Though they seemed the same they were worlds apart.

"When you go on this journey, you will have to be a warrior and not just a martial artist. While a martial artist may go for a knockout and try and put down his opponents in the least forceful manner, a warrior knows that sometimes despite what you may do, may have to use lethal force."

Ranma nodded his head in understanding, feeling a little reassured.

"I am not stating that you have to enjoy killing. It is your humanity and reluctance to kill that sets you apart from people like desians who kill for fun and pleasure. Never forget that." And with that he walked away leaving Ranma with his thoughts.

"So what did he want?" asked Lloyd grumpily. He held a grudging respect for Kratos and his skills but not much else.

"That time at the ranch," he began in a hollow tone, "Was the first time that I killed someone."

Lloyd nodded in understanding and spoke in a rare moment of wisdom, "It was hard for me too. Couldn't get out of my room for two whole days I was depressed until Dirk came and consoled me saying that killing was sometimes necessary but you never had to enjoy it."

Ranma smiled a bit at this, "Kratos said the same thing."

"I hate to admit it but the guys right." Commented Lloyd, "We are probably going to be encountering a lot of less than friendly people on the road so we better be prepared." Ranma felt a pang of guilt as he talked about the chosen's journey.

Ranma was feeling a lot better now although he would never like killing, "Thanks Lloyd."

"No problem," Ranma and Lloyd's stomachs chose this moment to alert their masters that they were due for dinner, "Race you home!" Lloyd shouted and took off towards Dirk's house, Ranma trailing behind.

A/N: Finally, a new chapter is up. I would have gotten it sooner but my mom has taken the computer memory down to 1 gig with her digital camera and now she works day and night to take the pictures off the computer and onto discs. This has give me very little time to type unfortunately…

Inu-Yasha: Well you have time now so you should stop ranting and start typing your next chapter.

ClanCrusher: What the heck are you doing here? You aren't even in this story!

Inu-Yasha: Yeah but anyone can come in during the authors note.

Sailor Scouts: In the name of love and justice we will punish you demon!

ClanCrusher: Oh boy.

Robin: There's the fanged demon! Teen Titans Go!

Ryoga: Who me? Can you tell me where I am?

The rest of NWC: Ranma prepare to die!

Mallet-sama: Lloyd no Baka! (Guess who?)

Pluto: You are all threats to crystal Tokyo. You must die!

ClanCrusher: Well I'm getting the heck outta here. (Ducks under a table as a fire ball nearly hits him)

On a more serious note I still want your reviews, comments, criticisms, etc. I cant live without them. Next time on Ranma of Symphonia "The Journey Begins" or it will if they don't kill me first.

Trigger Happy Mallet Girl: ClanCrusher No BAKA!


	8. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Oh for crying out loud are you still taking the time to read this? Well then your wasting your time because there is never anything new here. If you want to read a good disclaimer there are approximately 6838 disclaimers in the Ranma section and about 115 in the Misc. section. You can read those if you really have to read a disclaimer. Why are you still reading this? The story is much more interesting, read that!

Ranma- You're really lazy you know that?

ClanCrusher- Yeah and if I had a dollar for every brain you didn't have, I'd have one whole dollar.

Ranma- Huh?

ClanCrusher- Never mind. On with the adventure!

Forcystus looked over the cliff near the ranch with an apprising eye. He wondered to himself just how a mere human could have made that kind of jump, "Analyze the data from the gate surveillance system." He commanded one of his officers.

"Sir," he responded hesitantly, "The gate system has been damaged beyond repair."

So they had noticed the cameras installed on the gate, how observant, "Did you interrogate the prisoner?"

"Yes sir. She has remained silent about the incident."

This was getting to be an annoyance. First they had let that valuable prisoner escape. He had gotten quite a tongue lashing from his superiors about that. Apparently he was supposed to be involved in a classified project.

He should have known something was up when he found the holding cell where Ranma had been imprisoned damaged but he wrote it off as damages due to time. It was a real blow to his pride. He could still remember having to show the video to his superiors (See ya, suckers!) who threatened to remove him from his position.

Examining the bodies of the three soldiers dead outside his ranch he saw that two of them were dead by an instrument of blunt trauma. He slowly formulated a theory in his head, if Ranma was powerful enough to damage the floors of the ranch then he could also be behind this attack, the tools were the same after all. And if he was still around then the only place he could be…

"Inform the captain that we will be conducting a raid on Iselia Village. Make sure you both gather your squad of troops."

"Yes sir." He responded before running off to find the other captain.

Ranma was awake and getting ready to leave quietly. He still didn't like lying to Lloyd but he followed the wishes of Kratos and Colette and did not tell Lloyd the real time the chosen's group was leaving. Since there was no school, Lloyd was making a good impression of Ranma sleeping.

Equipping his gauntlets, Ranma headed quietly downstairs so as not to wake anyone, but was brought up short by Dirk who was wide awake and waiting for him, "She gave him the wrong time didn't she." It wasn't really a question.

Ranma didn't know quite how to respond to this question but Dirk held up his hand, "I'll tell him when he wakes up. You should be gone by then, good luck on the journey."

Ranma nodded his silent thanks to Dirk and as an afterthought left the rest of the money Kratos gave him on the table before leaving the house. It was still about 9:00 by estimate of the sun so Ranma took his time going through the woods. When he passed the path to the human ranch he heard some activity going on there. He decided not to worry about it for now.

Ranma reached Iselia Village with 10 minutes to spare. Kratos, Raine, and Colette were already there waiting for him.

"Are you ready to leave?" asked Raine.

"We must be going quickly. The desians might try something before we leave," Said Kratos.

"I'm ready," assured Ranma.

Without further ado, the party of four walked out of the village. Some of the villagers who were watching the proceeding waved to Colette one last time before going back to their daily lives. No one noticed Genis slip away from the crowd.

It wasn't until a half hour later that Ranma learned one of the important truths about the journey of regeneration, it was going to involve a lot of walking. Aside from occasional battles with brave (or very foolish) fiends there was hardly any excitement involved. The only upside was that Kratos was continually critiquing Ranma's fights.

"Don't shout out the name of your attacks! It gives the enemy time to prepare for it!" he said in one battle when Ranma released a Demon Blast at a worm like creature.

In another fight when Ranma started using his confidence to project his ki Kratos said, "Don't use emotion based ki, if you do then you will start projecting that emotion in all things including your attitude."

Ranma was starting to get bored with these fights but when he started to relax Kratos told him, "Don't slack off, your being GRADED for these fights you know."

This statement brought Ranma up short, "Graded, by who?"

Kratos thought about that for a moment then responded, "Hmm, not quite sure but that's no reason to slack off."

(Sorry, I couldn't resist)

Kratos was making him battle every set of fiends they found on the way. They always seemed to be in groups of two or three at a time and Kratos was making Ranma fight them all.

"There will be times on this journey when you will be facing hordes of fiends. You need to pace yourself so that you don't run out of energy fighting the first few groups." He explained.

Occasionally some of the fiends would get through Kratos and Ranma to attack Colette and Raine. Kratos had told Ranma that Colette and Raine would be near useless in a fight and he was right up to a point.

Raine was the moral equivalent of a cleric, she was a good spell caster and had a much better aim then Genis but her offense was near zero. Apparently like Genis, her weapon was used more as a focus rather than a weapon.

Colette was a bit different, her weapons were good at a distance but they did minimal damage to the enemy. She also had a slight problem of falling over all the time in battle, coincidently this also helped her avoid most of the enemies attacks. One time she tripped and thrust her hands out to break her fall, but there was an enemy in front of her. Her weapons that were still in her hand cut into the wolf's head and killed it.

After a couple hours walking, the chosen's group came upon a single house, "That," explained Kratos, "Is one of the many Houses of Salvation scattered across Sylvarant. They provide a place to rest, a haven from fiends, and supplies for travelers."

The House of Salvation was of a simple design. It had two stories to it, the first held the shrine and the single shop while the second story had several beds which could be rented for cheap rates.

Despite the cheep rates, Raine and Kratos wanted to make Triet by nightfall so they decided to press on. Eventually the grasslands and forests gave way to a huge desert. The fiends also started to change and the party had to watch out for various enemies like snakes and scorpions which could inflict fast acting poison. Fortunately Kratos had brought along several antidotes called 'Panacea' to counteract the poison.

During the hike Ranma noticed that Colette didn't talk much, she seemed to be slipping into a depression of sorts so Ranma decided to talk to her.

"What's wrong Colette?" asked Ranma

Colette immediately tried to look happy, "Oh nothing," she said smiling.

"It's about Lloyd isn't it?"

Colette's smile faded from her face, "I just feel bad about lying to him, he seemed so eager to come along too."

Ranma figured it would be something like this, "Don't worry about him."

"Why not?"

"Just like he said back at the temple, 'I'll just follow you on my own then,'" said Ranma. He knew it was true too. There was no way that the mayor, Kratos or anyone would stop him from coming along.

Colette whispered so quietly that Ranma had to strain to hear her say, "I hope your right."

It was then that they finally reached Triet, the desert village.

Lloyd awoke an hour before noon to an empty room. He wasn't concerned though, Ranma had a morning ritual where he trained in the morning and probably wouldn't be back until breakfast. Lloyd took the time to finish the necklace that he was making for Colette.

He went downstairs and after eating a quickly made breakfast of fried rice and eggs, went outside. He found Dirk out by his mothers grave.

"I packed a few things for you that you can use on your journey, I also made the key crest that you wanted, do what you want with it. Just remember that I tried to stop you."

"Thanks dad," said Lloyd. He remembered back to the night where he made his request for Marble.

FLASHBACK

"I'm back dad!"

"Welcome home, Lloyd and Ranma."

Lloyd immediately got to the point, "Say dad is there any chance that you could make a key crest? I saw someone today who had an exsphere without a mount."

Dirk was a little suspicious, "And who had this exsphere?" he asked.

"It was… a traveling merchant." He invented

"Baloney!" exclaimed Dirk, "Exspheres are generally used only by desians. If he stole one from a desian it should already have a mount on it."

He walked out from behind his anvil and continued, "Dwarven vow #11, lying is the first step towards the path of thievery. Tell me the truth now, who had the exsphere."

Lloyd sighed and hung his head in defeat, "It was someone who was at the human ranch."

"You went to the ranch?" shouted Dirk, "You didn't let them see your exsphere right?"

"It's ok dad," said Lloyd quickly trying to defuse his dad's temper, "I didn't even let any of them see my face, besides why do I have to keep this hidden anyway? The mercenary that I met today wore his right out in the open."

"Your exsphere is special, it was your mothers keepsake. She died defending it from the desians."

This shocked Lloyd to the core, he had always thought that his mother had died in an accident, "All this time and you didn't tell me? Why?" He demanded.

"Because I knew that if I told you then you would try and get revenge on the desians. Your mother protected you with her life, don't go throwing that away."

"So will you make me the key crest?"

"Have you been listening to a word that I've been saying?"

"Yes but now that I know the truth you cant expect me to sit here and do nothing!" With that Lloyd stomped off to his room. Ranma followed him.

Ranma found Lloyd out on the terrace overlooking the house. He began speaking without looking at Ranma, "All this time I thought she had died in an accident when she was really slaughtered by desians."

Ranma sighed. He was never really good at these kind of talks but he had to try, "Lloyd, don't you think that what Dirk said had some fact to it?"

"He did but I wish that he told me the truth from the beginning."

"If you had known that could you honestly say that you would do nothing? You said it yourself that you wouldn't."

Lloyd grumbled, he got trapped by his own words, "Your right, I really cant hold that against him," he seemed to brighten a bit when he said, "I guess that I'll just have to complete the journey with Colette, that will get rid of the desians once and for all."

Ranma felt another pang of guilt about the journey, "One last thing I think you should know, in one of his more serious moments my pop said to never let revenge control my life, cause if you ever succeed then you will have nothing left."

Lloyd sighed in acceptance, "Your right Ranma. I'll help Colette to the end and if any desians cross my path it will be worse for them."

END FLASHBACK

"Dwarven vow #2, never abandon someone in need, I'm just following the teachings. And Lloyd," he stopped for a minute then said, "I am honored that you call a dwarf like me your father. If you ever get tired, you have a home here."

Lloyd tried to find the right words to say to his father but he was saved the trouble when he spoke again, "I know you were never one for sentimentality, you don't need to worry just get to the village."

Putting two fingers to his mouth Lloyd whistled and Noishe came running up to him, surprisingly followed by Genis, "Lloyd where have you been?" he practically shouted.

"Genis, great news! I got dad to make Marble's key crest.

"That's great and all but what about going with Colette?"

"You mean she already left?"

"Ranma, Kratos, Raine and Colette left two hours ago!"

"Lloyd, quickly! Get to the village." Said Dirk

"Right." Lloyd jumped on Noishe's back and pulled Genis up behind him.

They left Noishe at the front gate and hurried to the village. The village militia informed Lloyd that Frank and Phaidra wanted to talk to them so they hurried towards Colette's house.

Lloyd didn't bother to knock, he opened the door and asked Frank, "Is it true? Did Colette leave already?"

"Yes, Colette left some time ago. She asked me to give you this letter." Lloyd took the letter and read out loud.

Dear Lloyd,

By the time you read this I will have already have left on my journey. I'm sorry for lying to you. The world regeneration journey is full of peril and many chosens have failed.

I care about you too deeply to get involved. I'm going to do my best to stop the monsters and the desians so I want you to live a happy and peaceful life in the regenerated world.

Thank you so much for your friendship and kindness all these years. I'm really lucky to have met you.

Farwell,

Colette

"What is this?" asked Lloyd, "This sounds like a will!" 

"You could call it that." Said Frank.

"What do you mean?" asked Genis.

Frank sighed and said, "There is something that we have hid from you and everyone in the village. Colette's journey is-"

All of a sudden a loud explosion sounded from outside, "Quickly! Go see what's happening!" exclaimed Phaidra

Lloyd and Genis ran out of the house and were greeted with red skies. Several houses in the village were on fire and small fires were starting in other places. Several desians were in the town square while some others were starting fires on the other untouched buildings. Two desians had cornered one of the militia in front of the schoolhouse.

Lloyd blindly charged at the two desians catching them by surprise. Before they could even turn around Lloyd had stuck both swords into one of the desians back killing him instantly. Three balls of fire hit the other desian right in the face blinding him. He stumbled backwards towards the human guard, tripped and fell backwards right onto the man's pitchfork.

Lloyd ignored the man struggling to remove the desian from the end of his weapon, "Is everyone in the school?" he asked.

The man finally kicked the corpse from his weapon, "There are still some people in center of town."

Genis and Lloyd ran off to the center of town where the highest concentration of desians were. The mayor was there and so were a couple of village guards.

"Ranma Saotome come forth!" The speaker was uniquely dressed. He had an eye patch and a long gold colored cylinder in place of an arm which looked to be a gun. His clothes were not of the regular desian make so he was apparently higher ranked.

At that moment, the red clad warrior and the magic user ran in front of the mayor. The man spoke again, "Listen up inferior beings! I am Forcystus, one of the five grand cardinals of the human ranches where we cultivate you pathetic humans. You have been charged with harboring prisoner F197 Ranma Saotome and communicating with prisoner F192. We find this to be in violation of the non aggression treaty and I hereby bring judgment upon this village."

"You have the nerve to attack the chosen at the temple and claim that we have violated the non-aggression treaty?" shouted Lloyd.

"What are you talking about?" asked one of the captains. He was easy to identify because he had a full helm and a staff which was decorated by gold ornaments.

"You mean you weren't the ones to attack the temple?" asked Lloyd confused.

"I see. _They_ must have been after the chosen." Said the captain.

"They?"

"I have no need to explain myself to the likes of you. We have prepared a fitting punishment for your crimes."

A loud thumping was heard and then a green monster approached the village. It was twice as tall as a normal human and had arms that reached the ground. Its face was comprised of a single gem and it was wearing the outfit that was worn by the prisoners of the ranch.

"What the hell is that!" shouted Lloyd but he didn't have time to respond as he put up his arms to ward of a strike from the monster. It didn't hurt that much but it knocked of the bandage that covered his exsphere. Lloyd and Genis drew their respective weapons and battle was joined.

Genis immediately retreated to the back and chanted a spell while Lloyd ran to confront the enemy. Fortunately it was slow, unfortunately when it did hit, it hit hard. Lloyd dodged the creatures downward strike and proceeded to slash it's midsection. He did not see the follow up strike that sent him airborne.

Lloyd flipped over in midair and landed on his feet right as Genis cast lightning. The thing didn't seem to have any ranged attacks so Lloyd and Genis unloaded spells and Demon Fangs respectively. After a few seconds of this the thing grabbed its head and twitched as though it were in agony. Lloyd moved in to finish the thing off.

This proved to be a mistake. Just as Lloyd was about to land his first strike a black aura surrounded the beast, burning to the touch (this is the move Insane Cell for those of you who are confused). He was in range however and was in terrible pain for a while, fortunately it only lasted a few seconds.

Trying his best to ignore the pain Lloyd charged his blade with chi and drove it straight into the monsters chest so hard that it protruded from the other side. He then took his second sword and drove it straight into the monsters neck. At that minute Genis shouted, "Lightning" and hit the metal part of both Lloyd's swords.

The creature fell over, presumably dead and Lloyd retrieved his swords from the monster. He noticed there was an exsphere in the head of the creature.

"Lord Forcystus it's just as you thought! That boy has an exsphere!" exclaimed the desian captain.

Forcystus eye widened in shock, "That's the exsphere from the angelus project, give it to me!" The other desians started to close in around Lloyd and Genis.

"No!" shouted Lloyd, "This belongs to my mom which you desians murdered!"

Forcystus looked genuinely confused at this, "What are you talking about? Your mother…"

He was cut off by the monster gaining it's second wind. It stood up behind Forcystus and wrapped it's arms around him. And then a voice sounded from it, like it was in agony and it took all of it's effort to say it, "Run… away… Genis. Lloyd…"

"Th…that sounds like Marble!" exclaimed Genis.

"No, it cant be."

The thing, or Marble, spoke again, "Get…away. Hurry. You… were always like a grandson to me… Genis."

The creature was briefly surrounded by a white light and then an explosion knocked everyone in the immediate area off their feet. Forcystus caught the worst of it and fell to the ground in pain. The creature was gone, and all that remained was the exsphere that had been in its head. Genis picked it up.

"Lloyd," Forcystus struggled to get the words out, "As long as you and Ranma hold your exspheres we will always come after you." He was immediately surrounded by his guards who made a hasty retreat out of the village.

Lloyd saw that Genis was still holding the exsphere. Withdrawing the key crest his dad made him he handed it to Genis, "Why don't you wear it in memory of Marble?"

A few tears fell from Genis eyes as he accepted it, "Thanks Lloyd. I will."

It was about this time that the mayor received his second wind, "Look what you did to the village! How many times have we told you not to go to the ranch? Now look what you have done!"

"I'm sorry." It was the only thing that he could think to say.

"You think that you can fix this by apologizing?"

"Your not going to exile him are you?" interrupted Genis, "It was my fault in the first place for taking him to the ranch."

"The desians have made Lloyd their sworn enemy. He cannot be allowed to remain."

"Fine if your going to exile him then your going to have to do it to me too."

The mayor seemed taken aback for a second but then firmed in his resolve, "Fine. By the rights vested in me as mayor I herby sentence Lloyd, Genis, and Ranma to exile from this village."

The villagers gradually walked off to help put out the fires until only Frank and Phaidra remained, "I'm sorry that I caused this," said Lloyd sadly to them.

"If you truly feel that way then catch up with Colette and help her regenerate the world. I am sure that the villagers will surely forgive you if you do that." Said Phaidra.

"I will. Come on Genis lets go," and with that the Drifting Swordsman and the Magic User walked away from the village.

Genis told Lloyd that the first leg of the journey was to the north which was Triet. They decided to head there tomorrow for it was getting to be pretty late. They found a caravan where a girl was happy to give them a place to rest for the night. In the morning they would head to Triet.

A/N: Well this scene was pretty much taken from the game, sue me. Since Ranma already left I didn't really expect it to change that much. In other news I finally got 3000 grade points to help with my writing of the story. Those of you that completed the game know what I'm talking about. Anyway, I still love to hear your reviews, flames, comments, criticism, whatever. It's food for my writing spirit. In other news…

Lloyd- You know I'm never going to understand why you keep doing these author's notes. It's not like it's building the story or anything.

Ranma- Seriously. The longer you keep writing these things the more likely it is to have some un-cute, un-sexy, violent manic tomboy come in here.

Akane- Ranma no BAKA! (Hammer time)

ClanCrusher looks and sees several anime characters entering the studio

ClanCrusher- Not again. (Ducks under the moon tiara) Anyway, I plan to update soon if these guys don't kill me first (Tilts his head forward and dodges a bolt from starfire) Oh well, at least these guys will keep away any lawyers.

The camera pans to the outside where a lawyer is looking in shock at the computer that imbedded itself in the front window of his car.

ClanCrusher- Tune in next time for Chapter 8- Captured!


	9. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I'm running out of ideas of how to say that I don't own Ranma ½ or Tales of Symphonia. Just pretend that there is a disclaimer here that would be relatively funny because for the first time, I cant think of anything.

Ranma- Hey ClanCrusher, what's wrong?

ClanCrusher- Hmm. I think that I am suffering from writers block.

Ranma- Here let me help.

-Ranma charges his fist with ki and destroys the block that is on my desk-

ClanCrusher- Wow! Thanks, I feel a whole lot better now!

Ranma- No problem.

ClanCrusher- And without further ado, let us begin chapter 8 of the adventure.

One other thing of note, as you may have noticed in the last story, Lloyd has metal swords. I know in the game that he has wooden ones, but this is fanfiction.

Ranma and the Land of Symphonia 

**Chapter 8 – Captured!**

The Triet desert was created when the legendary spirit known as Efreet went out of control and destroyed the towns and grasslands for miles around, creating the desert. To this day the only town that remains is Triet, primarily because it has the only water source for several miles.

Triet was modestly built with buildings of stone and several makeshift stalls that were selling various items. The inn was easily the largest building, for none of the houses were over one story tall.

"We will rest here for tonight," said Kratos, "I'm going to go get us a room."

Raine turned to them, "Feel free to explore the village, just don't go outside."

Ranma began to walk towards the various stalls when he saw something that made his mind freeze up in pure terror. It was horrible, it was terrible, it was pink, it was THE KATZ TEAM!

Colette was right behind Ranma and noticed his body lock up and tense as if expecting a fight, "What's wrong?" she asked, but she got no answer.

Ranma was visibly shaking by now and starting to attract attention from some of the local shoppers. He was busily trying to convince himself that real cats were not colored pink, did not stand on two legs, or wear clothes, or carry cameras but the Neko-Ken only saw a cat and that put all reason to the winds.

Meanwhile the Katz were looking at this strange human with interest. He seemed afraid of them for some reason so they decided to go and reassure the person that they were harmless and only wanted to help people with their journeys. After all, they never wanted to turn away a potential customer.

As the Katz approached Ranma's fear grew and grew. They were only 5 feet away when Ranma snapped.

"C-C-CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!" he screamed and took off with a speed that would put an F-1 racing car to shame.

Colette stood there in shock for a few seconds before one of the Katz spoke, "What's his problem, were KATZ not CATS, sheesh."

Colette ignored him and went in pursuit of the martial artist.

Said martial artist was on the other side of the village cooling down, 'Damn it,' he thought, 'They just had to have not only cats in this world but ones that could walk and talk too!'

It took a few seconds but Ranma was finally able to calm himself down and take a look at his surroundings, which he did not recognize. He saw a tent nearby and decided to ask directions from the person within. When he entered he found a female fortuneteller there.

"Come in, come in," she beckoned, "Would you like your fortune told today?"

"Actually I was just wondering…"

"All will be answered when I look into my crystal ball, don't you worry."

"But I just…" he stopped when he saw she was ignoring him.

She stood motionless for a few minutes with her hand over the crystal ball before finally saying, "I haven't seen an aura like yours in decades, wherever you go great changes will happen, weather for the good or bad is anyone's guess for your aura of chaos and your own choices will ultimately affect the outcome."

'Man that's intense,' thought Ranma, 'What does she mean centuries? She's about 27 years old!'

She continued, "Other than that, your aura blocks any and all possible reading, so I'll only charge you 25 gold this time. Oh and the inn is a ways east of here."

Ranma sweat dropped before grudgingly handing over the money.

As he was walking back to the inn, making a wide detour around the evil felines, he met Colette halfway, "Do you want to tell me what happened?" she asked, "What did you father do this time?"

"How could you have ever guessed," he said sarcastically, "I'm going to tell everyone at once so lets get back to the inn."

Back at the inn Ranma had just told the Neko-Ken story. The reactions varied only slightly, Raine was gripping her staff so hard that her knuckles were turning white, Colette exclaimed that Genma was no father and that Ranma should stay away from him. If you had eagle eye vision and you looked very carefully at Kratos you would notice a twitch in his hand and eye.

"You know," said Raine, "I'm all for inflicting corporal punishment when I teach but this is plain stupid."

"Is there anything else that we should know of?" asked Kratos.

"Not that I can think of. All of my other problems are on my world."

No one noticed that a certain professor had gotten a familiar maniac glint in her eye, "You mean that you come from another world?"

Ranma mentally slapped himself in the head. Raine hadn't been around for his brief life story. He really didn't feel like going over this again.

Raine saw the look, "Another time then. Right now it's time for your lesson."

Kratos and Colette quickly excused themselves to do other things around the village. This left him alone with Raine in the room.

"Um… professor?" he quietly asked.

"I'll take questions after the lecture now pay attention," she threw him his textbook which she had brought along.

It was pretty much one of the worst and best teaching sessions he ever had. The worst, being that he actually had to stay awake or suffer Raines holy wrath. Since she was only concentrating on one student it made her job of making him stay awake much easier. It was the best in the sense that Ranma actually learned a few things for the first time in his life besides martial arts.

The session went better then expected for he only had to be hit 27 times throughout the whole 2 hours. Raine looked to Lloyd as a personal academic failure on her part, she would not make the same mistake with Ranma.

After the session was over Ranma went out of the room and into the lobby. He found Kratos there waiting for him with a set of clothes that almost duplicated his current clothes under his armor.

"Put these on," said Kratos tossing him the clothes, "The real training begins now."

Ranma went back into his room in the inn and put the clothes on, surprised at how heavy they felt. He returned to the main room where Kratos was waiting.

"You will wear this clothing every day from when you first get up to when you go to sleep. You will fight, eat, walk, and train in this clothing. When you finally get used to the weight, we add more. During the day you will be the one to carry the company pack as well as your clothes,"

It wasn't anything new for Ranma, except for the weighted clothes. On the training trip Genma made Ranma carry almost everything, however he was unused to fighting with weights.

Kratos continued, "Each morning you will get up at 5:00 for your lesson and you will have an additional lesson at the end of the day. Once Lloyd arrives then he will probably be joining us. The only exception is when we are about to release a seal or other important event."

Ranma stopped short, "Lloyd?"

Kratos looked at him, "Do you really think anything will stop him from coming?"

Ranma took that into consideration, "Not really."

"Good, then lets start with a warm up spar."

The full contact 'spar' lasted for half an hour. Kratos was holding back slightly while Ranma took time to adjust to the weight on his new clothes. Ranma, in the meantime, was having a bit of difficulty keeping up. While weights were nothing new to him he was not used to being burdened so much in battle.

The battle finally ended when Kratos knocked him out. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Kratos had a select brand of smelling salt with a sent that was guaranteed to wake the dead. It instantly woke up Ranma.

"Put this on." Said Kratos tossing Ranma a piece of cloth.

"A blindfold? What for?"

"One of the primary skills that you should learn is detecting ki signatures or auras. This gives you warning in advance if someone is going to attack you from behind or if your vision gets impaired." He explained.

The trick was, as Kratos described it, to extend your senses outward using you ki. Ranma tried it but could barely get a glimmer of the auras. He was however, able to sense a dog for a brief second before it faded from view. After an hour Kratos took the blindfold off saying that was enough for today.

Kratos then fixed him some of his specialized tea which once again made Ranma feel physically better, "What do you put in this tea?" he asked.

"The main ingredient is the essence of the gels that are commonly used for healing. However by a specialized combination of herbs and various spices I found out how to counterbalance the bad taste of the gels," explained Kratos, "It's my homemade elixir."

Ranma really liked the sound of this, "I don't suppose you could teach me how to make it could you?"

"Even if I did the ingredients I use are hard to come by. Also repeated consumption of the elixir could lead to dependency on it and shouldn't be taken more than once every two days."

"If the ingredients are so rare where do you get them?"

"Well that," Kratos began, Ranma leaned in closer as his voice dropped, "Is a secret."

Facefault.

Ever since Ranma was taken on the 10 year training trip, he had never gotten a good nights sleep (well in his opinion anyway), having always been awoken by being thrown or splashed with water. But now that he was in a different dimension…

SPLASH!

Well lets just say some things never change.

"What was that for?" he shouted at Kratos who was holding a now empty bucket.

"We have things to do today and we will not accomplish them if you are sleeping like you are in a coma. This was merely the easiest way to wake you," he said ignoring the murderous look Ranma was giving him.

Ranma got into his clothes and armor and met the group in the main room of the inn where Raine was discussing they should go next.

"…so the most logical place to look would be the ruins south of here." Raine concluded.

Ranma thought for a second before asking, "Kratos, how far away do you think Lloyd is?"

Kratos closed his eyes for a few seconds, "About 2 hours away. Why?"

"Well, I think that someone should wait for him since they're starting to put up wanted posters," he had noticed the posters the day before while exploring the town, "If someone was to tell him where we are going then we can keep him out of the town until things cool down."

"Remarkable foresight. I have no problem with it." Said Kratos.

"I have my moments," said Ranma giving his trademark smirk.

"To bad they're only moments," teased Raine.

Ranma took a few seconds to work that out, "Hey!"

Lloyd and Genis had continued towards Triet after they spent the night at a passing wagon. They were able to make better time than Ranma's group because of Noishe, this also helped them to outrun most enemies that they saw. It was around noon when they appeared at the entrance to Triet.

They were about to enter the city when Ranma dropped right in front of them, Genis let out a shout of surprise but Ranma quickly covered Lloyd's mouth before he could say anything.

"Not here, lets get outside."

Ranma waited for Lloyd's nod before he uncovered his mouth. Ranma led them a little ways from the city before Lloyd finally spoke.

"Okay Ranma, what's going on?"

"Our faces have appeared on some wanted posters and the desians are in the city." Ranma explained.

Lloyd chuckled nervously placing his hand on the back of his head, "Well about that…" Lloyd explained to Ranma about Iselia and Forcystus.

"So what are you doing here anyway? Where's Colette and Raine?" asked Genis.

"They went on ahead to the seal. I volunteered to stay behind and wait for you guys."

"They knew we were coming?" asked Lloyd.

"Well Kratos did anyway. Anyway we should hurry on to the seal of fire. They said it was in the ruins south of here."

"Uh oh. Guys we got company!" shouted Genis. Several thieves had snuck up on them while they were talking.

"Drop the goods and leave and we might let you live," said the Thief who appeared to be their leader.

"We don't have time for this," complained Ranma.

"Hey are you listening?" yelled the leader, "I told you to- URK!"

His sentence was abruptly cut off as he found Ranma's fist in his gut. Ranma picked him up by the throat and threw him into the thieves behind him.

"Anyone else?" asked Ranma nonchalantly.

His response was the remaining thieves charging the trio. Lloyd whipped out his swords to help. The thieves had them outnumbered 2 to 1 but their weapons consisted mainly of knives and their skill was terrible.

Ranma dodged a stab from one and swiftly disarmed him. He then grabbed the guys head and brought it down while simultaneously bringing his knee up. Finally he back kicked with the same leg and hit the thief who was sneaking up from behind.

When Genis had first seen the thugs he had already started quietly chanting a spell, trying his hardest to hide the aura. The result was that two thugs were hit by the lightning spell he cast.

Meanwhile Lloyd had neutralized his two guys as well. The thieves that were alive crawled off the battlefield while the others would become food for the vultures.

"Damnit. Someone must have heard that!" said Lloyd.

"We need to get moving quickly," hastened Ranma.

Several desians had heard the sounds of battle and had run outside the village to see what the noise was. When they saw the two most wanted criminals right in front of them battle was joined once again.

Ranma had just beaten off another desian when he saw a figure with a blue ball of energy in his hand aiming for Lloyd. He let off a Demon Blast but the Desian had already fired. Ranma desperately ran towards Lloyd hoping to push him out of the way but it was to late. Lloyd fell to the ground, stunned.

"Stop fighting now or he'll get hurt!" shouted one desian, his sword near Lloyd's throat. Ranma and Genis didn't see any way out of the situation so they allowed themselves to be shackled and led away.

After an hour of walking (or being carried in Lloyd's case) they came upon the desian's base. The remaining desians were greeted by the guards there and Lloyd and Ranma were taken inside.

"Leave the kid, we don't need him," said one guard.

They released the restraints on him and sent him away. Genis wasted no time in getting away from the base. He knew that he had no chance of rescuing them alone. He needed help of some kind, he needed…

The Chosen's group had just entered Triet ruins when all of a sudden Genis riding Noishe burst into view.

"Ranma and Lloyd have been kidnapped!" he shouted to the group.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Finally, a new chapter up. It took me long enough. My thanks goes to everyone who reviewed my story and stuck with this first time writer. Please, keep reviewing. As for those of you who noticed typos, I plan to fix them once my computer stops disagreeing with me.

Computer- I'll stop contradicting you as soon as you start being right!

ClanCrusher- Damn the computer is trying to talk to me again. This is my cue to go and get some sleep. No more anchovies on my pizza. No sir.

Computer- Idiot.

ClanCrusher- Who are you calling an idiot?


	10. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Man I'm getting depressed. There's only so many ways that you can make fun of a disclaimer and I'm running out of ideas. Oh well, only one thing to do.

(ClanCrusher pulls out an assault rifle and fills the disclaimer with lead. Then he takes a flame thrower and burns the rest of it into ashes. Finally he sweeps up the ashes, throws them in the trash, seals the lid and throws it out the window. The garbage can lands in a garbage truck where it eventually ends up in a landfill, buried, never to be seen again)

ClanCrusher- Well that was therapeutic.

Lloyd and Ranma are looking at ClanCrusher with a shocked expression on their faces

ClanCrusher- What? Something on my face?

(Warning: This fic contains mild swearing)

**Ranma and the Land of Symphonia**

Chapter 9- Escape 

Ranma and Lloyd were roughly tossed into a jail cell, the latter being unconscious. A few of the guards left while two of them stayed and started talking to eachother before one of them finally left. This left one guard casually walking around the cells.

The guards had taken all of Ranma's equipment and armor and casually threw it in a locker. They hadn't bothered to keep the restraints on them when they threw them in the cell. Hell, they didn't even remove the exspheres even though they knew how dangerous they were.

"Lloyd," Said Ranma and getting no response tried again a little louder, "Loyd!" still no response. Finally Ranma got right next to his ear and shouted "LLOYD!"

"I didn't do it!" Lloyd shouted waking up.

"Hey shut up!" yelled the guard.

Lloyd franticly looked around a bit before realizing where they were, "I suppose we lost then didn't we?"

"They took us all after you were incapacitated," explained Ranma, "We can trade stories later, right now we need to escape."

"How are we going to do that? All my equipment is gone."

Ranma waved him off, "Since when did I need equipment?"

Ranma started concentrating for a few seconds and a slight aura became visible to Lloyd. Then in a flash of brilliance Lloyd placed a hand on Ranma's shoulder breaking his concentration.

"What?" Ranma asked annoyed.

"Don't you think that they might have built in some kind of alarm?" he asked.

Ranma considered that for a second, then powered down, "You got a better plan?"

Lloyd told Ranma the plan who quickly agreed with it.

The guard was just dropping off to sleep when one of the prisoners shouted at him, "Hey stupid."

Surprised the guard looked up at the prisoners.

"See Lloyd, I told you the idiot would look." The guards eye twitched a little before he resumed his napping.

"Wow the guys actually sleeping on the job? Guess he wasn't good enough for any place else. Probably one of those lazy throwbacks they couldn't find a better place for." Said Lloyd.

"Shut up!" shouted the guard.

"Make me. Although you're probably to lazy to get off you fat ass to do it," said Ranma while pulling down one eyelid and sticking out his tongue.

Snarling the desian got up from his seat while grabbing the whip from his belt. He snapped the whip forward at Ranma.

The next series of event went so fast that Lloyd had trouble following them. Ranma grabbed the whip in mid strike and jerked on it, pulling the desian along with it. Ranma released the whip and grabbed the desians head through the bars and bashed his head repeatedly into the cell bars. Finally Ranma grabbed the remote from the desian and pressed the open button.

"Satisfied?" Ranma smirked at Lloyd's shocked look.

Lloyd shook his head and recovered, "Lets get our stuff."

They took the guard and threw him into the cell they had vacated and locked it. After searching for a bit they found their equipment and suited up.

One of the main aspects of the Saotome Anything Goes Martial Arts is stealth and trickery. Even Genma's ultimate techniques were based on those aspects. Although Ranma had never (mostly) used his stealth techniques for personal gain, training under Genma's style had instilled in him a high sense of awareness and ability to move without making noise.

Ranma's ear twitched slightly as he heard the main door to the room open. Quickly he gestured to Lloyd in some very well known universal hand signals. He pointed towards the door and held up two fingers. Then he went and pressed himself up against the wall, corner to the hall where the two guards were coming from.

The poor guards never knew what hit them.

Lloyd finally got a chance to talk to Ranma, "Did you get a good look at where they took us?"

"Nah, the guys blindfolded me before we came into the base," said Ranma as he was searching the two guards.

"Do you have any idea how we're going to get out of here?"

"Sneak past the guards and don't get caught," replied Ranma simply.

"Good to know you've got a plan," said Lloyd sarcastically.

"Got a better idea?" asked Ranma.

"Not really."

"Then lets get outta here," said Ranma as he finally found a key card on one of the guards.

"What about these guys?"

"Throw them in the cell."

After the guards were taken care of Ranma and Lloyd exited the cell room and began exploring the fortress. Along the way they had to ambush several guards to keep their presence quiet. Unfortunately when second shift came around…

Lloyd and Ranma jumped about 10 feet when the alarm went off. Ranma retaliated by incinerating the alarm with a ki blast, "Hmm, that's not good." He mused.

"Damn it, I thought we took out all the guards."

"They must have found one of the bodies, hurry!"

Ranma and Lloyd ran down one corridor, up an elevator, down a flight of stairs and dogged two guards who were coming down a hall by dodging into a side room.

"Whew," breathed Lloyd, "Now that was close."

"And who the hell are you?"

It was then that Ranma and Lloyd realized a very important fact. They were not alone in the room.

The two turned around at lightning speed to find themselves face to face with Botta from Martel temple and another man with blue hair and a cape.

"Yuan, its them. They're part of the chosen's group!"

"Of course, I was with the group that apprehended them. You would be Lloyd," he said gesturing to the red warrior, "and you would be Ranma, escaped convict F197, host body to the exsphere for the special project."

"Huh? What special project?" asked Ranma.

"That doesn't mater now. What does matter is that you will hand over your exsphere to us now, Ranma Saotome." Yuan brought his hand forward and a ball of electricity manifested. It looked very familiar, in fact…

"So you're the jerk that took a cheep shot at me!" shouted Lloyd, "Why you… DEMON FANG!" Yuan sidestepped the energy blast which continued on to destroy the desk he was standing in front of.

"Watch it!" shouted Yuan, "That desk was an antique! Do you have any idea how much that cost?"

Ranma and Lloyd sweatdropped.

"How dare you attack Yuan, you will pay for that!" yelled Botta before he pulled out a wicked looking red colored hook sword. He moved to attack Lloyd but Ranma deflected his sword by hitting the flat of the blade on its downward decent. Ranma kicked Botta in the stomach, forcing him back a couple steps.

"So you're the jerk that attacked Martel temple, I've been wanting a piece of you." Said Ranma.

Both sides retreated to opposite ends of the office and got into battle positions. Yuan drew his weapon, a double bladed sword. Just when they were about to charge eachother Yuan shouted, "Wait!"

Ranma, Lloyd, and Botta all turned to stare at Yuan who said, "Can we please take this somewhere besides my office? I just got this place refurbished."

Massive facefault.

After Botta, Lloyd, and Ranma picked themselves off the ground Yuan led them to an open space in the fortress.

"Now can we start?" asked Ranma thoroughly annoyed.

"Yes, begin!" and he swung his double bladed sword at Ranma who ducked under it.

"Still taking cheep shots huh? Well I guess you couldn't win any other way." Taunted Ranma. He retaliated with a palm strike to Yuan's gut which was easily dodged.

Meanwhile Lloyd had started fighting with Botta. He threw several quick thrusts at Botta who quickly blocked all of them and countered with a few slashes of his own.

Meanwhile Genis was leading Colette's group towards the renegades base. Kratos was easily keeping pace with Noishe as Genis and Colette rode atop him.

"How did they get captured?" asked Kratos, the picture of cool as they neared the desian base.

"Someone hit Lloyd with a ball of electricity while he was fighting off a group of desians," said Genis.

'Electricity?' Kratos thought, 'Only one person I know who can use that and he…' He broke off his thoughts abruptly and quickened his pace.

"LIGHTNING STRIKE" shouted Yuan as he jumped into the air and dived down, causing the immediate area around him to erupt with electricity, blasting Ranma back. Ranma had to admit, Yuan was good. Almost as good as Kratos it seemed.

Ranma quickly got up in time to doge several lightning balls that Yuan shot. He was running out of energy and the fight had been lasting a long time and it was taking its toll on Ranma. In the beginning it had appeared that they were evenly matched but when Yuan started using his techniques the battle had slowly started to go downhill.

Ranma cursed as he felt one of the lightning balls brush him and send a current of electricity through his whole body. Yuan came in close again and Ranma found himself quickly on the defensive trying to keep from being cut open.

"STALAGMITE!" shouted Botta, causing several stone spikes to erupt out of the ground around Lloyd, who quickly danced around the protruding objects. He ran in close again engaging his foe in melee combat.

Lloyd's battle had been going slightly better than Ranma's, in the sense that he was dishing out as much as he took. Botta packed a lot of power but he was slower than Lloyd who was constantly dancing around him to get the upper hand.

Botta brought his sword down straight into the ground, causing several chunks of the floor to shoot at Lloyd. He managed to block most of them but one got through and hit his chest, winding him. Botta charged forward and swung at Lloyd's chest scoring a slash right along his chest.

Fortunately Lloyd's armor took the main force of the blow but it still left a shallow cut along his chest.

Ranma was quickly getting exhausted. He had tried almost everything he knew but Yuan was still winning. Finally in a last desperate gambit he began focusing his remaining energies into his fist and rushed at Yuan. Yuan swung his blade in a figure eight pattern but Ranma jumped to the side, focusing all his energies into his speed and strength Ranma rushed Yuan from the side and shouted out a single word.

"IRON PALM!" the strike sent Yuan into the far wall and also sent Ranma to his knees his ki stores finally exhausted. He groaned as he saw Yuan extract himself from the wall that he had been slammed into, albeit a bit shaky.

"Damnit that hurt!" he yelled at Ranma. Then he started chanting as a purple aura surrounded him, "LIGHTNING BLADE!"

A blade of pure energy slammed into the ground about a foot away from Ranma's current position sending an electric shockwave out in all directions for about 10 feet. Ranma lapsed into unconsciousness as the lightning attack went through his body.

At that moment the door to the desian base flew open to admit Kratos and the rest of the chosen's group. Kratos quickly assessed the situation and ran towards Botta as he was about to bring up his blade for another attack. Kratos charged his blade with ki and brought his sword down on the flat of Botta's blade, cutting it at the hilt.

Botta felt the weight of the blade leave him and immediately turned around to face Kratos, before he was kicked in the stomach and sent into the wall, hard.

"Damnit, not you again!" shouted Botta throwing the useless hilt aside and running for the door. Yuan was already gone, a depression in the wall the only evidence he had ever been there (well, as long as you don't count the charred floor, the destroyed tiles and other various forms of destruction in the room).

The two men gone, Kratos went to examine Lloyd. Muttering under his breath he traced a glowing hand along Lloyd's chest where the cut was, closing it off and healing it. Raine, who had entered the room behind Kratos, went to examine Ranma and started healing his wounds, her staff glowing white.

Back at Triet Inn…

"So Kratos, who were those people?" asked Ranma

"Why would you assume that I would know them?"

"Call it a hunch," stated Ranma.

"I don't know Botta personally but Yuan and I have met before. That's all." He said it in a way that indicated the conversation was over.

After the fight with Yuan and Botta, the chosen's group had headed back to Triet for the night, to exhausted to deal with the first seal. Ranma had been interrogating Kratos about the two he fought but he couldn't get anything out of him. The only thing he knew for certain was that Yuan was going to pay the next time they met…

Lloyd had reunited with Colette who immediately took to fawning over his wounds and apologizing. Kratos had taken Ranma's clothes to the customizer to add more weight claiming, "If you had enough energy to cause havoc like that in the desian base then your obviously not being challenged enough."

While he was lying in bed Raine had given him a few books to look at telling him to memorize their contents or else. The fact that she was brandishing her new staff which had dozen of spikes protruding from the end helped him to concentrate on the task.

Raine had later gone off ask Lloyd and Kratos about their exspheres. Apparently she had found the discarded hilt of the sword that Botta threw and wanted to know if she could use one herself.

Ranma put the book up with a stretch and a yawn. As much as he hated to admit it, he was actually starting to enjoy reading. Unconsciously putting his ki to the job of healing his wounds Ranma went to sleep.

Yuan fell to his hands and knees as the warp panel reached its destination. Coughing up a bit of blood Yuan thought back to the earlier fight.

At first it appeared Ranma would be a little tricky to put down. After all, he had gotten past almost all of the guards and straight to his office without so much a scratch. When they had started fighting he wasn't able to get the upper hand until he started releasing some of his more powerful techniques.

Just when it looked like victory would be at hand Ranma had pulled an insanely fast and powerful blow right into his side. He had heard his ribs groan in protest from that blow. It was only thanks to pure adrenaline and panic that he got off that last blow and was alive right now, along with Botta.

The entrance of this person, Ranma Saotome, changed things. If the chosen had such avid guardians then they might have to call in a few reinforcements. One thing was for sure however, the next time he met Ranma, he would pay.

End Chapter 9

A/N: Short chapter, I know but this seemed like a good place to end it. Remember, I want comments, criticism, suggestions, flames, water, lightning, ice, whatever. I have also decided to start pairing polls so cast your vote.

Ranma- What? You mean that your deciding who I'm going to be spending the rest of my life with on chance?

ClanCrusher- Well, yeah. Something wrong with that?

Ranma- Why you… RAGING LIONS ROAR!

ClanCrusher- Gah!

Well I better give him some time to cool off. Until next time folks stay tuned for…

CHAPTER 10 

The Trail We Blaze


	11. Sidestory 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or Tales of Symphonia. Hah! I bet you weren't expecting a normal disclaimer, ooohhhhh BURN!

Ranma- You're weird. You realize that don't you?

ClanCrusher- And proud of it.

Ranma and the Land of Symphonia 

**Sidestory- A Divine Sleep**

Ranma was dreaming, somehow he knew it was a dream but he couldn't figure out how he knew. He was standing in a sparsely furnished office with two chairs and a desk. On the desk there was an apple, a cup with a few pens in it and a photo. Looking further Ranma realized that he was not the only person in the room.

Seated behind the desk was an elderly man with white hair and beard. He had every appearance of a knowledgeable elder figure.

Before Ranma could ask him anything the man spoke, "Please Ranma, have a seat."

Wondering how the person could possibly know his name Ranma did the only thing he could. He sat down.

"I know you have a lot of questions right now and maybe I'll answer them after I'm done, but for now just bare with me.

"Alright." Said Ranma a bit confused.

"As you have already guessed, at the training ground Jusenkyo you were taken from your world and transported to a world called Symphonia."

"Yeah I gathered that much." Agreed Ranma.

"Ah, but this is what you do not know. The land of Symphonia was created from a game."

This brought Ranma up short, "A…a...a game!"

"Indeed, you had been transported to a game called Tales of Symphonia."

"You mean to tell me the whole time I've been playing IN a video game?" shouted Ranma standing up from his seat.

"Ahh, now that is where you're wrong."

Ranma sat back down in his chair with a soft thump, "So what do you mean?"

"Hmm, well I think it's best if I started from the beginning."

"Please do."

"There are two planes of existence besides the earth realm, more commonly known as Midgard. In one place, where the demons reside, is known to mortals as Hell or Nefilim (sp?). Mortals know the other place where Angles and deities reside as Heaven.

Ranma nodded his head in understanding.

"Heaven has a computer system here that oversees the mortal realm that is run by various personnel. However, every so often, the system gets bugs in it that need to be eliminated by people called de-buggers. Their job is to travel to Midgard and destroy the physical manifestation of the bug or bugs, thereby fixing the system."

Ranma wasn't exactly following this but he got the gist of it and motioned for the man to continue.

"The place where you and Genma went is the source of a major infestation of bugs and has generally been given up as a lost cause. When you came, you put the alert level of an infestation way past the red zone and an entire squad of de-buggers was sent there to destroy them. Among them, my daughter Skuld.

"What's so important about her?" he asked.

"She was the one who made the portal you fell through," he explained, "Ironically enough, you fell into the nexus spring while the portal was open and you were transferred to the game of Tales of Symphonia."

"Well okay, so can you bring me ba-"

The old man cut him off, "I'm not finished yet. Due to your chaotic aura that you got when you came to Jusenkyo, combined slightly with divine influence, you have transformed Symphonia from a mere game to an entirely different world."

Ranma knew his jaw was on the ground but didn't bother to make the effort to close his mouth. If what the old man was saying was true, he had accidentally created a real world! Without even trying!

"Shocking isn't it?" said the man with a slight tone of amusement, "There is no telling how this will have affected other worlds or dimensions ever since Symphonia was transformed into a real place. The world has its own history which could have affected any other time lines,"

Ranma finally recovered from his shock, "Well then, cant you bring me back to my home-world?"

Sighing, the man responded, "I am sorry but I'm afraid I don't know enough about the new world to pinpoint its location and transport you back. If attempted, you could end up anywhere from Pluto to a black hole."

"Then how are you able to talk to me like this?"

"I am merely contacting you on a subconscious level, which is a different matter entirely. Since it was my subordinate who put you in this world I thought you would like an explanation."

Slightly depressed Ranma slumped back in his chair. The old man saw his depression and quickly spoke up, "However, another one of my daughters has recently played the game. I believe if you can come into contact with the spirits known as Origin and Maxwell in that world, I think we could work something out."

Ranma brightened considerably at this, "Alright then, I'll look for them."

"Indeed," they were interrupted by a loud beeping noise coming from the man's left wrist. The man pushed a button on his watch and smiled at Ranma.

"And now I believe it is time for you to wake up."

"Wait a sec, I never got you name!"

"Well, some people like to refer to me as Kami-sama."

SPLASH!

Back in the land of Symphonia Ranma was awoken by Kratos with an ice-cold pail of the chemical formula known as H20.

Back in Kami-sama's office:

'Oh yes Ranma, you'll find that the effect you caused had a very 'interesting' effect on your timeline alright' thought the man to himself, 'Now, where was I?

Kami-sama waved his hand, causing a cabinet to open. Inside was a TV and Game Cube with the game "Tales of Symphonia" in it.

A/N: Just a quick side story to kill my writers block. Please tell me what you think. Sorry for the long waits for updates and all, you can blame school for that. Finally, if Mdizzle is reading this, PLEASE UPDATE YOUR RANMA STORIES! That's all.

And finally, the results for the pairing polls:

Sheena:6

Raine: 3

Colette:1

That Other Girl:1


	12. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Alert! Alert! We have a 4-1-1 missing report of a Disclaimer. If found, please seal within box without air holes and ship it to Saudi Arabia.

Ranma and the Land of Symphonia 

**Chapter 10- The Trail We Blaze**

There are very few things in the world that Ranma hate. On the top of his hate list would be the ferocious felines known to mankind as cats. Right now, however, the second would definitely be deserts.

Normally Ranma wouldn't have minded a walk through the burning sands and heat of the midday sun, but after an hour (along with his newly weighted clothes that Kratos had gotten him) of trudging through the burning hell of the Triet Desert, Ranma despised deserts.

"Man its so hot," Lloyd panted as he walked.

Noishe whined in agreement.

"Yes Lloyd," deadpanned Raine, "Deserts are naturally hot."

"Don't worry Lloyd, we'll be there soon." Encouraged Colette

"Quit complaining Lloyd, its good exercise," stated Genis

"Easy for you to say, wearing shorts," mumbled Lloyd.

Ranma and Kratos didn't answer. Lloyd had been complaining for the last half-hour and they didn't bother to dignify him with responses anymore.

They had left Triet early in the morning as to avoid the sun but they had still been caught in the sun due to several attacks by animals and other creatures. The snake nest they had accidentally stumbled into had been pure hell, fortunately Kratos had produced several antidotes to the snake venom.

They had also had a run in with another group of bandits who were easily dispatched but they had delayed them long enough for the sun to come out and bask them in scorching heat for the final leg of their journey.

Finally after another 2 hours they came upon a set of ruins. It didn't look like much but Kratos finally said that they had arrived.

"Whew! I am so sick of this desert!" exclaimed Lloyd collapsing to his knees.

Ranma didn't say anything, instead he just collapsed the ground in a dead faint. The combined effects of the heat, weight, and constant battles had taken their toll on him. He had no idea how a simple shirt could weigh so much but the customizers back in Triet seemed to be able to make anything possible if given the right materials.

Kratos sighed and took off his personal pack. Around him the other members of the party did the same thing, "Genis could you give him another?"

Genis, who had been riding on Noishe, hopped off and took out his Kendama, "Aqua edge revised, Water Spout!"

The young magic user had been using Aqua Edges to keep Ranma awake but after several complaints from Ranma about how the hurt like hell Kratos had shown him a revision of the technique.

Genis was briefly surrounded by a blue aura before a stream of water erupted from the end of his weapon and splashed onto Ranma, who woke with a start.

"I didn't do it!" he shouted, looking around in a panic.

"Change clothes Ranma, were in enemy territory now." Kratos was looking about warily, his hand fingering the hilt of his sword.

Ranma struggled to get his shirt off while everyone else was preparing their weapons.

"They come!" shouted Kratos. It was all the warning they got before several floating red ball shaped… things, came out from behind the pillars of the ruins.

The things immediately were surrounded with red auras indicating fire magic. Kratos and company didn't give them a chance to cast. The party waded through the spell casters and cut them down mercilessly (well, okay, so it was only Kratos and Lloyd but still) except Ranma who was still trying to get the weighted shirt off his head.

Unfortunately for Ranma, the group had missed one red element and it was able to fire off a fireball, which hit Ranma just as he finished taking off his shirt, which started to burn his undershirt.

"Gahhh!" Ranma shouted finally getting off the weighted shirt. He immediately dropped to the ground and rolled around to put the fire out.

After a few seconds Ranma got up again, and he looked pissed, "There is only one person who can set me on fire and get away it, and your not him!"

Ranma charged forward with the shirt in his hand and smacked the elemental with his shirt.

The red elemental flew right through two pillars of stone and stopped at a third which crumbled down on top of the thing, killing it instantly.

"Saotome Final Technique, Iron Cloth," said Ranma cockily, flicking his pigtail back behind his head.

Everyone stared open mouthed (except Kratos of course) at the shattered stone pillars.

Finally Genis spoke up, "Just how much does that thing weigh?"

Ranma shrugged and tossed it onto the ground, immediately forming a small crater.

"Man, sucks to be you!" laughed Lloyd.

"You'll get yours tomorrow after we finish here." Stated Kratos simply.

Lloyd immediately stopped laughing.

"We should set up camp here for tonight. It would be unwise to fight the creatures within these ruins today." Commented Raine.

"Say Kratos, why don't you wear any weighted clothes?" asked Lloyd.

Kratos didn't respond. Instead he removed one of his shoulder guards and tossed it to Lloyd.

Lloyd caught the object, and fell over onto his back, "Jeeze this thing is heavy!" Lloyd struggled to lift it for a few moments before Kratos came over and took it from him with one hand.

Ranma walked around the camp restlessly. Raine had given him a huge lesson about the Triet ruins, keeping him awake via water using Genis, who already knew everything about Triet. It amazed Ranma that one so young could be such a genius.

When he had tried to talk to Kratos he was only told him to rest and prepare for tomorrow. He said nothing further to him.

Lloyd and Colette were out like a light. They were unused to traveling long distances and constant fighting and had fell asleep as soon as their tents had been set up.

Looking around, Ranma noticed Raine placing here hands on Genis back, glowing with a white aura and chanting softly. When she had finished her body glowed green for a brief second before entering Genis body.

"What was that?" asked Ranma curiously.

"It's a special technique called charge. Instead of healing the bodies wounds, it restores the bodies energy by using your own energy." She explained, "Sometimes Genis needs some energy to keep him going because of his age."

Ranma, like Ranma, was always interested in new techniques, "That's pretty neat. Think you can show me?"

"Fortunately you don't need to be an expert in magic to do it but it does take concentration."

The technique 'Charge' required the receiver and the giver to be exactly in tune with each others ki. It was easier to do among family members, Raine explained, but if you concentrated hard enough it was possible to do with anyone.

Ranma tried it a few times with Raine and was able to impart a small amount of energy to her one time before the connection was cut off. He tried it a few more times, getting steadily more frustrated until Raine told him to stop and get some rest.

"It takes concentration Ranma, and you cant concentrate when your tired."

"Come on just one more time," Ranma insisted, "Please?"

"Bed. Now." The tone she used allowed no argument.

"Alright fine. Jeeze, you sound just like a mom." It wasn't until he was in his tent before he let himself smile, "Not that that's a bad thing mind you." He spoke quietly to himself. It was nice to have a mother figure, even though she wasn't his biological mother.

Ranma woke up before everyone else, or so he thought. When he went out into an open area to practice he saw Kratos there, meditating. Ranma turned and was about to leave when Kratos spoke up.

"Have a seat Ranma."

Hesitantly Ranma sat down next to Kratos.

Kratos, his eyes still closed spoke to Ranma, "Another important aspect of ki manipulation and control is meditation. Unless you are at least somewhat in tune with your inner self then you will find it difficult and draining to use your ki."

Ranma listened carefully, mirroring Kratos position on the ground beside him.

"In order to become a true master of any art you mind, body, and spirit must be in tune with eachother. The first step is meditation."

Ranma had been to several temples on his 10 year torture er… I mean training trip and had heard much of the same things said by priests and other religious fellows. However, when Kratos said it, it held much more meaning.

Ranma got into the position Kratos displayed and began breathing in sync with him. Genma had thought that meditation was a useless art and that brute force (along with trickery and thievery) could overcome anything. Of course Ranma had written Genma off as an idiot years ago and had, on occasion, tried out some of the meditation techniques taught to him by priests.

The first step of meditation was easy, breathe in for a count of 7 and breathe out for a count of 7. After a while it became second nature.

The second step was the one Ranma had the most trouble with; clearing your mind. It was at this point that every single noise, itch, and minor discomfort would seem to be multiplied ten-fold in an effort to distract you.

'Focus!' thought Ranma harshly, 'I need to focus and stop thinking about anything!'

"Don't try to force yourself, it will come naturally if you let it." Kratos spoke unexpectedly.

Ranma turned to stare at him for a second; was the man psychic? Not making any progress with his current criteria, Ranma opted to follow his advice, calmly emptying his thoughts little by little like water from a hole.

Slowly but surely Ranma was getting to the first stage of meditation. He had nearly cleared his mind when…

"RANMA!"

"Gah!" Ranma cried, immediately flipped to his feet, assuming a defensive stance.

Lloyd put up his hands in a warding gesture, "Woah, hey calm down. Its only me."

"Lloyd, don't scare me like that." Said Ranma lowering his guard, 'Damn,' he thought to himself, 'So close! Oh well.'

"I was calling you for the last 5 minutes, what were you doing anyway?"

"Meditating."

"Oh. I just wanted to tell you that breakfast is ready."

"Oh thanks. Hey Kratos! Kratos?" Ranma looked over to Kratos only to find that he hadn't moved the entire time.

Breakfast:

"So Ranma, do you cook at all?" asked Genis as he tended to a pot of Stew on the fire.

"Not really. My pop always said that men should never have to learn culinary arts, along with a lot of other things."

"Yeah well your pop is an idiot. What do you do for food when your out on the road?"

"Well I can cook a nice big slab of meat," Ranma said scratching the back of his head.

"Typical adventurers food," mumbled Genis to himself, "Don't see how you can get by."

"And I suppose you could do better then?" Ranma challenged.

Genis offered him a small bowl with some of the stew in it. Ranma, never one to pass up food or a challenge, tried it.

"Man this is good! How did you get to be such a good cook?"

"Experience. I usually cook for me and sis. She is probably one of the worst cooks you would ever meet."

Nerima…

ACHOO!

Akane looked up from her toxic waste… er I mean food and wondered who was talking about her.

After breakfast the party finally set out to explore the ruins. Everyone was tense, they had been attacked twice by various fire elements and some birds that were made of pure flame had ambushed them.

After a few minutes of walking they came upon a slab set in the ground. The rock was a different color then the rest of the ruins and looked very well preserved.

"Well, now what?" asked Genis after a brief moment of silence.

Ranma turned to Kratos to ask what they should when he heard a dark laugh coming from Raine.

"Er… professor are you all right?" asked Lloyd cautiously.

Raine looked up and everyone (including Kratos) stepped back a bit when they saw the maniacal glint in her eye, "FACINATING!" she shouted suddenly.

"Hey teach whats up?" asked Ranma.

"Oh no not again." Genis moaned putting a hand to his head.

Raine ignored them all and ran up to the slab of stone, "This is polycarbonate, and ancient artifact used to defend against magic during the great Kharlan War! Its so smooth."

Everyone in the party was sweatdropping now, "Is she always like this?" Kratos asked.

"Sigh. And I've tried so hard to hide it too." Complained Genis.

Raine stopped her examination of the stone and moved over to a nearby pedestal, not even stopping when she knocked Ranma to the ground. Stepping on his back she looked at it closely.

"Get off me!" shouted Ranma from his position on the ground.

"Hmm. And if I'm not mistaken, this is the oracle stone," she turned to address Colette, "Colette, put your hand here."

"Me? Okay." Colette walked over and (stepping on Ranma in the process) placed her hand on the oracle stone.

The slab of polycarbonate slid away to reveal a staircase leading downwards.

"Will you get off me!" Ranma tried to yell but could barely get it out as a whisper.

"Wow I guess this means I really am the chosen!"

"Yes Colette I think we all know that." Stated Genis

"Hip hip horay for you." Mumbled Ranma, still facedown in the stone.

Following the stone staircase was a stone hallway. Nobody attacked them while they were walking, which only served to make them all the more cautious, well except Raine.

She was busy examining every square inch of the ruins, muttering nonstop under her breath, "I just don't understand it." Said Raine, as she finished her examination, "No words, markings, symbols, or anything!"

"Probably because the chosen is the only one that uses this place." Mumbled Ranma irritably. He was getting quite annoyed with her 'Archeological Mania' attitude but that was mostly because his back was still sore.

Raine looked at Ranma strangely, "I don't believe it."

"Believe what professor?" asked Lloyd.

"Ranma, you actually said something smart for once!" exclaimed Raine, "And here I thought you were just like Lloyd!"

"Heh, thanks." Ranma put a hand to the back of his head in embarrassment.

"That wasn't a compliment Ranma," deadpanned Genis.

Ranma took a minute to think that over.

"HEY!"

The pointlessly long but necessary hallway finally opened up into a large circular room. In the center was a circle like object similar to the one in Martel Temple. Lava was surrounding the circular platform.

As the last person crossed the stone bridge to the platform, the section of stone sank into the lava, cutting off any possible exit. Everyone in the party, including Raine, was now on full alert, constantly scanning the area.

The party, with Kratos in the lead approached the seal in the center of the arena. All of a sudden Genis put a hand to his head in concentration.

"Ther… there's a great welling up of mana!" he shouted suddenly.

"It comes!" shouted Kratos.

A pillar of fire erupted from the seal, followed by two smaller pillars of fire from the lava surrounding the stone stage. The smaller pillars died down quickly to reveal two flaming, disfigured, humanoid, sword bearers. They, however, paled in comparison to the main event.

The big flame finally died down to reveal a gigantic lizard like creature with a flaming body (in case you haven't figured it out, this is kind of the style around here) and spines along its back. The thing gave a roar and leaped to attack the nearest person.

Ranma didn't exactly have a religion but the situation seemed appropriate, "Jesus Christ what is that thing?"

Kratos casually jumped back, avoiding the creatures bite, "I would assume that he is the guardian of the seal."

Genis had already started to cast a spell, while Colette and Raine had retreated to the edges of the platform.

Lloyd had immediately ran up to one of the Flame Warriors and began trading blows with it.

Ranma jumped over to the second warrior and landed a blow right in its chest. The thing just shrugged it off though and retaliated with a few sword strokes of its own. The thing was fairly slow though so they were easy to dodge.

The Ktugach (as Raine had identified the fire lizard) was a bit more trouble. The thing had started to fire of spikes from its body and Kratos was hard pressed to dodge all of them. Every now and then he would take a few swings at his head but it was doing little damage.

A shout of 'Aqua Edge' was followed by a few blades of water impacting Lloyd's flame warrior. In the moment of distraction Lloyd took the opportunity to sever off his sword arm. The creature, undaunted, raised his other hand and shot three small balls of flame at Lloyd.

Unexpected, the attack hit Lloyd right in the chest knocking him over. Fortunately the creature never got to follow the attack up as a metal disc severed the creatures head, instantly dropping it to the ground.

"Thanks Colette!" shouted Lloyd before running off to help Kraots.

Meanwhile Ranma had easily dispatched his opponent. After taking out his sword arm Ranma had hit a blue spot in the middle of the body that had instantly made the thing stop moving.

With the flame warriors gone, the fighters turned towards the big threat. Even with the combined might of Kratos, Ranma, and Lloyd attacking the thing, they just weren't doing enough damage. Ranma couldn't get close enough without getting burned and the spines on the thing made it hard for Lloyd and Kratos to score hits on its flesh.

Ranma jumped over the tail of the beast as it swung around and tried to hit the melee fighters. Kratos tried to get another shot at the head but ended up dodging several spikes instead.

Genis released another Aqua Edge spell that hit the Ktugach right in the head. Unlike the other blows this actually got a reaction out of the thing.

The Ktugach roared in pain and turned to Genis and let loose a stream of fire. Fortunately Ranma pulled Genis out of the way just in time.

"Genis," spoke Ranma quickly, "Do you think you can increase the power of the Aqua Edge?"

"I don't think I have enough energy to get any more power into it." Replied Genis.

Ranma thought for a moment, "What if I was to charge you?"

Genis thought about that for a moment, "That just might work!"

"We need Raine to help us though. Jump!"

Both Genis and Ranma jumped as the tail passed under them again. The creature was facing away from them now and concentrating on Kratos and Lloyd.

"Raine! Get over here!" shouted Genis.

At the head, Kratos and Lloyd were still trying to pierce the creature in a vulnerable spot unsuccessfully. Kratos took a second to look at where the others were and saw Raine and Ranma glowing with a white aura. He immediately recognized the spell and saw who they were doing it to.

Sheathing his sword Kratos shouted to Lloyd, "Keep him distracted and away from the chosen!"

"What? Gahhh!" Lloyd didn't have time to question Kratos as a new set of spikes tried to impale him.

Ranma and Raine were surprised to find a third aura had joined theirs in an attempt to charge Genis but quickly accepted it. Genis was concentrating with all his might on the spell, focusing on his inner energy.

As one, Genis, Kratos, Ranma, and Raine opened there eyes. In eerie unison they all said:

"Unison Attack! AQUA STORM!"

At that moment, the 4 were all in tune with one another's ki. At that moment, there minds and spirits were one. It was at that moment that the combined energy of the 4 was put into that spell.

The end results were hundreds of aqua disks flying straight into the Kutgach and out the other side. The thing gave a final roar of protest before its flames sputtered out and died.

Genis fainted while Raine collapsed to her knees. Kratos remained standing but he was a little shaky on his feet. Ranma merely collapsed onto his back.

"Well… done Ranma," panted Raine, "I didn't expect you to learn the spell… that quickly."

A/N: Ah, another chapter complete. It just gives me such a WAFFY feeling that I have another chapter complete. For those of you who have looked at my profile you can expect another chapter of Smash Brother Ranma before I update this again. Once again I must stress to you the importance of reviews because I always want to know if my readers like my stories.

Oh and by the way, if any of you are wondering why he didn't mention the dream, well think about it like this. What would people think of you if you told them that their world was a video game turned into a real world? Hmmm….

Tune in next time for Chapter 11: The Mysterious Assassin?


	13. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz… Huh? Oh what! A disclaimer? Nah. Zzzzzzzzzzzz

Pairing results: Heh. That would give it away, but the results have been decided.

Oh and by the way, some people have petitioned me saying that Ranma should be able to beat Kratos easily but I do not think that is so. All of you people who have beaten the game know what I mean when I say that experience and learning comes with **age**.

**Ranma and the Land of Symphonia**

**Chapter 11: The Deadly Assassin (Yeah Right)**

Ranma lay awake, staring at the ceiling of his tent unable to fall asleep. After they had beaten the Kutgach, Remial had appeared again and blessed Colette with the power of the Angels. She now had a set of wings to go along with her white clothes making her look like a real angel. Ranma had said as much to a blushing Colette.

He then gave his standard cryptic hint before vanishing in a flash of light and feathers. For some reason he didn't like Remial that much. Maybe it was his 'I know everything' attitude or maybe it was because he gave the impression that everyone besides Colette was inferior to him.

The temple had been devoid of enemies as soon as the seal was released so they had an easier time getting back out of the ruins. They had decided to set up camp a little ways away from the ruins as night was coming on fast and he, along with Raine and Genis, were dead on their feet.

Colette had also collapsed as soon as they got out of the ruins which furthered their decision.

The biggest shock, however, came when Kratos talked to Ranma and Lloyd later that evening.

FLASHBACK

Kratos, Ranma and Lloyd were seated around the campfire.

"That boy Genis, he has the strength and potential to become a very good mage." Mused Kratos to himself but loud enough for Lloyd and Ranma to hear.

"Yeah if he worked on his aim a little bit." Mumbled Ranma.

Lloyd chuckled a little from that but stopped when they saw Kratos' glare.

"By all rights Genis should be dead now."

Lloyd was shocked, "B..b…but why?"

"Any human that ever tried to channel that much mana would die straight out. Half-Elves and Elves like you friend Genis do have an easier time with it but having 3 different sources of energy enter your body at once, even if they were in perfect tune with one another, has had more drastic effects on people older and stronger than Genis."

That silenced both of them for a bit but then Ranma spoke up, "If its as bad as you say it is then why did Genis get off with just a fainting spell? And besides, we won didn't we."

"I admit we did win in the end. As to Genis' condition," For the first time since Ranma saw him, Kratos smiled, "As much as it may seem that I do, I don't know everything in the universe."

He walked away leaving Ranma and Lloyd with their thoughts.

Genis, despite being a little tired, claimed he was perfectly fine and had offered to cook dinner when Raine had volunteered to do it instead. Kratos had told Genis to rest and let Raine cook.

Kratos was the first person to take a bite. He was also the first person to be on the receiving end of several healing gels and first aid spells.

Ranma and Lloyd did the smart thing and disposed of their food the minute Raine's back was turned. That food was swallowed up by a worm that mutated into an enormous monster that would eventually swallow the Soul Eater… but that comes later.

Colette had decided to skip the meal, claiming she was not hungry.

END FLASHBACK

'Who would have thought that Kratos could actually make a joke?' thought Ranma to himself.

Sighing to himself Ranma got to his feet, careful not to wake up Lloyd who was sleeping next to him.

Ranma walked a few yards away from the camp before beginning a slow Tai Chi kata while simultaneously meditating. Kratos had showed him a different way of meditating after Ranma had told him that he couldn't sit still long enough to find his center.

The style was basically clearing ones mind and doing a kata that had been so ingrained into your memory that it was second nature. Any form would do but Ranma had chosen Tai Chi for its clam and relaxing nature. Although Genma had frowned upon these styles claiming that they were unworthy with all his usual BS.

It had only taken a little time before Kratos had begun to slowly break Ranma away from his fathers 'teachings.' Old habits were dying quite hard unfortunately as Ranma still ate at supersonic speed.

"Cant sleep?"

"Aaaahh!" Ranma quickly turned around and got into a defensive position only to find Kratos looking back at him. No matter how hard he tried Kratos had always been able to sneak up on him.

"You shouldn't be so tense. Its not good for the mind and spirit."

Ranma relaxed his stance, "Yeah, well being ambushed at every time of the day by your old man can do that to a person. Why are you here anyway?"

"…I came here to cook some food."

"I guess not even your endurance could handle Raine's cooking then." Snickered Ranma.

Kratos twitched.

Together they gathered wood and put some meat over the no-smoke campfire they built.

There was silence between them until Noishe came from behind him and butted his head gently. Ranma gave him a pat on the head and Noishe licked his face.

The real surprise was when Noishe went over to Kratos and started to lick his face.

"Stop Noishe." Mumbled Kratos tiredly. The animal gave a whine before laying down next to Ranma who began to stroke him absentmindedly.

"Do you like animals?" Ranma asked suddenly.

"No. Not particularly."

"That's odd. Noishe seems to like you quite well."

Kratos quickly changed the subject, "You said you came from a different world right?"

Ranma nodded.

"Which one?" asked Kratos.

"A place called earth. Japan to be exact although I was at China when I was brought here." Ranma provided.

A different expression flashed across Kratos' face but is was gone too quickly for Ranma to see it.

"Never heard of it."

"Didn't think so. Hey Kratos, have you ever heard of some guys named Origin or Maxwell?"

This time Ranma did see the expression on Kratos' face change but only briefly.

"Where did you hear those names?"

Ranma thought fast. He didn't want to reveal his dream to them just yet.

"Uh…around."

It was obvious that Kratos didn't believe him but he seemed to accept Ranma's reluctance to answer, "Each of the four seals has their own separate deity. For instance the fire seal here is watched over by the spirit Ifrit. The other seals of Light, Water, and Wind are watched over by the spirits Luna, Undine, and Slyph respectively."

"So where do Origin and Maxwell fit into this?"

"Origin is the supposed leader of all the summon spirits although this is based strictly on legend. Maxwell…" he trailed off.

"Well?" asked Ranma expectantly.

"No one knows who he is. The name appeared in the history texts under the other spirits but he has never been classified or seen." He spoke quietly.

Ranma was able to get to sleep later that night which was fortunate because Kratos woke them up real early saying that they had a long way to go before they could get out of the Triet Desert. He wanted to make it to the Ossa Trail before the heat really set in.

After much griping, complaining, and the usual things associated with packing up camp they had finally set out.

"Man why do we have to get up so early? Not even the fiends are stupid enough to wake up this early." Complained Lloyd.

"If you can't handle it then you can always go home," stated Kratos.

"I can't go back to Iselia Village! I was exiled."

"Then quit acting like we're on vacation."

That silenced all the complainers. Ranma didn't complain because he was used to running on little to no sleep and Raine was saving her breath for walking rather than talking.

Kratos and Colette seemed to be the only ones that were unaffected by the lack of sleep. Fortunately they were able to make good time and had gotten to the entrance of the trail by about 9am (to Ranma's estimation) right before the sun really started giving off rays.

The party halted at the entrance to the trail at Kratos' command.

"Sensing something?" asked Ranma looking around.

"Just the regular fiends. There's an enemy close by however so keep your guard up."

The group walked cautiously on the trail for a few minutes before Kratos shouted out.

"Above you!"

Another voice soon followed this statement.

"Stop!"

Everyone looked up to see a female figure. She had wild black hair tied back in a braid and was wearing a purple robe with black pants and a pink ribbon tied around her middle that trailed down to her ankles. She had brown eyes and was generously endowed and looked like the perfect picture of someone who was not a fighter.

"Is the chosen of mana among you?" she asked in a commanding voice.

Colette actually went as far as to raise her hand, "Oh! That would be me!"

"Die!" she shouted and leaped off the cliff. Everyone prepared for a fight but all of a sudden she was interrupted by a gale of laughter.

Everyone looked around to see Ranma rolling on the ground laughing.

"…Okay I'll bite. What's so funny?" asked Lloyd.

"This!" shouted Ranma before laughing again.

"And what's so funny about it?" asked the female.

Ranma seemed to gain control of himself, "Well, seriously. Here you are, trying to assassinate someone and you shout at us from the top of the cliff in plain view of everyone where someone could hit you with a spell or arrow. And then shout out your intentions at the top of your lungs so the world could hear them. I thought assassins were supposed to strike secretly from the shadows while wearing dark clothes and all that."

The woman started to visibly twitch as Ranma made his assessment of her, "Give me a break," she shouted, "It's my first time!"

Lloyd was starting to snigger to himself as well, "Hey assassin, how many people did you shout at before finally finding the right group?"

The woman was really getting angry now.

"I wonder how long she spent on the cliff waiting for us. I mean, it probably would have been easier to attack right after the fire seal." Joked Ranma.

Even Raine was trying to hold back her laughter now.

'Screw the chosen,' thought the woman irritably, "Die!"

The woman ran directly at Ranma who casually pushed Colette out of the way. Unfortunately Ranma was standing right on a trap door waiting for Sheena's attack, and Colette stumbled from the force of the push, falling and hitting a conspicuous red lever that opened the trap door that Ranma and Sheena were now standing on.

Both Ranma and Sheena comically stood in the air for a few seconds before looking down and seeing they were standing on air.

"Well this sucks." Commented Ranma before the laws of gravity took effect and both of them fell down the mineshaft.

Everyone stood around stupidly for a few seconds before Colette ran over to the trap door, "Oh no I just dropped Ranma and that girl into the mineshaft! I hope that their oaky!"

"Smooth Colette. Real smooth." Commented Lloyd.

Genis walked over to the trapdoor and looked down, "Considering the distance to be 15 meters deep and assuming her weight to be 52kg multiplied by the 4.2 gravity constant…" Genis went on rambling for a bit until Kratos cut in.

"The fall wasn't fatal. She would be luck if she got an injury from it."

"And how did you conclude that?" asked Raine.

"Because if I know Ranma he'll take the brunt of the fall by shielding her with his own body."

In the Mineshaft…

Ranma reacted purely on instinct. Positioning his body behind Sheena he grabbed her around the waist.

"Hey! What do you think your doing?"

"Its gonna be a rough landing! Hold on!" Ranma shouted back ignoring her shouting.

The landing shook the entire mineshaft and nearly caused a cave in.

Sheena immediately got out of Ranma limp embrace and checked herself for injuries. Surprisingly she found none on her entire body. Looking over at Ranma she found out why.

The landing had not been pleasant for Saotome. The mineshaft had deposited them right on some loose gravel with the rocks jutting up at odd angles. A particularly large rock had hit Ranma's head and had knocked him out.

Sheena sighed. They may be enemies but he did save her life. And he wasn't that bad looking either… she mentally beat herself up for going down that line of thinking.

Slipping out a gel from her robe she placed it on the ground next to him along with one of her cards. She then ran to look for the exit from the mines.

"So you think she's going to attack us again?" asked Lloyd.

"I'm sure of it. The space is too cramped and the footing is poor. We should hurry to the end and try to find a safer way into the mineshaft so we can find Ranma." Stated Kratos.

The party started the task of climbing the trail. It was mostly uphill on one side and downhill on the other which made fighting difficult halfway and easy halfway. Despite the fiends they were able to make pretty good time but they were in for a surprise as they got to the bottom of the trail.

Standing there, out of breath, was the clumsy assassin ready (sort of) for battle.

"This time you wont get away!" she shouted.

"Are you really sure you want to fight us 4 on 1?" asked Raine skeptically.

"Of course not! That's why I brought some help!" taking a particular card out of her supply she shouted out, "Come! Wind Guardian!"

Ranma awoke a few minutes later with a sharp headache and pain all over his body. Much to his limbs protest he forced himself into a sitting position and assessed his surroundings. It appeared that he was in some sort of mine. Looking on the ground around him he spotted the gifts left by Sheena.

There was an Apple Gel along with a small card. Picking up the card Ranma read the four words on the card.

Thank you,

Sheena Fujibayashi

Smiling to himself Ranma pocketed the card and used the gel on himself. Feeling his injuries slightly disappear he picked himself off the ground and began to explore the mineshaft.

He wandered around aimlessly with no real destination in mind (except the exit of course). He saw several fiends in the mineshaft but he easily snuck around them. Finally he came to what appeared to be a dead end but a black skull caught his eye before he turned to leave.

Approaching the skull he saw that an entire skeleton lay out before him with four different blades in the ground around it.

Looking at the skull Ranma received the shock of his life when the thing turned its head and looked back at him.

If that wasn't enough the thing began to speak to him too.

"S…TRONG ONE….I SEEK."

The skull seemed to be struggling to speak now. It gave long pauses between its words and seemed to be gasping for breath.

"F..FIGHT?"

Ranma finally picked his jaw off the ground, "You mean your actually giving me a choice?"

"…YES."

Ranma assessed the skull and his injuries. He figured that he could take on one measly skull.

"Alright I accept."

"I…COME!"

Ranma watched once more in shock as the body of the skeleton came to life and picked up the skull with horns on it. The thing then waved its arms over the four swords placed around its body and all four of them jumped into his hands. The thing was now a black skeleton with four swords twice Ranma's height.

"Me and my biiiiiiiiiiiig mouth." Mumbled Ranma getting into a defensive stance.

A/N: And so we introduce the popular female assassin Sheena Fujibayashi. Tune in next time for Chapter 11: Battles Abound. Ranma vs. Sword Dancer and Sheena vs. The Chosen of Mana.

Please remember to leave a chapter on your way out.

Cheers.


	14. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Oh where, oh where did my disclaimer go? Oh where, oh where did it go?

A/N: Thanks to everyone who left a **chapter **for my last story. God I want to kick myself for that.

Ranma and the Land of Symphonia 

**Chapter 12- Sword Dancer**

Ranma surveyed the gigantic four-armed skeleton in front of him. The 'thing' had an insanely huge aura that was visible even to the naked eye.

"I…FIGHT!" the disembodied voice was all the warning Ranma got before the thing charged at him with its swords flailing. The martial artist jumped back out of the skeletons range and removed his weighted shirt, tossing it on the ground nearby.

Charging in, Ranma leaped to avoid a cut at his legs, bent his body at an unnatural angle to avoid a swing at his throat, knocked aside a downward slash and caught the final blade between his palms right before it would have cut him in half.

The skeleton wasted no time in using another two blades to swipe at Ranma, but he had already rolled under the skeletons legs. Leaping up the fighter landed a punch right on the skeletons head making it spin around 360 degrees before coming to rest.

Unfortunately the demon's torso twisted 180 degrees, simultaneously lashing out with all four swords at once.

Ranma fell to the ground, sporting a few minor cuts. He quickly backed away from horned skeleton to get some breathing room and assess his opponent more carefully. Reaching into his pocket Ranma looked through the magic lens that Raine had given him. A series of words quickly appeared in the lens beside the skeleton's picture:

NAME: SWORD DANCER

TYPE: DEMON-SKELETON

ALLIGNMENT: DARK

WEAKNESS: LIGHT

"Weakness to light? Damnit! Where's Colette when you need her?" Grumbling to himself Ranma took off his weighted clothing.

**Flashback Temple of Fire:**

"Hey guys!" Lloyd shouted, "Look what I found!" 

Lloyd pointed at a small chest in a dirty corner. It had no keyhole and looked more like a box than an actual chest.

"What's that doing in a place like this?" puzzled Ranma.

Running over to the chest, Lloyd kicked it open with his foot. The chest suddenly sprouted teeth and bit his foot.

"OW!" Franticly shaking his foot Lloyd dislodged the chest.

"That thing bit me!" The chest had hopped back a few feet and was barring its teeth like an angry dog.

"That's no chest! That's a Fake!" shouted Raine as she drew her staff. Around her everyone drew their weapons as well.

The fake turned to Ranma and promptly began regurgitating items from its mouth. The thing spit out a toy hammer, a small skull, and a shuriken.

Ranma smirked as the items came towards him, "What is this, some kind of prank?"

His smile died a painful death as the items struck his body. Too late Ranma realized the items were charged with a staggering amount of energy. The skull hit his arm and nearly bowled him over. Falling to the floor, Ranma just barely dodged the hammer by rolling out of the way.

The hammer bounced on the ground and ricocheted to hit Raine squarely in the chest, knocking her to the floor. The shuriken would have hit Colette if it weren't for Lloyd who took the blow on the arm just in time.

"What is that thing?" yelled Ranma as he regained his feet.

"A fake." Kratos calmly explained as he dodged another barrage of items from the chest, "They were used by nobles to keep thieves from stealing their treasure. Unfortunately the fakes stopped everyone, including the nobles, from getting at the valuables."

The battle was fierce. Every time a person tried to get close to it, the Fake would shoot off some charged items forcing the person to retreat or dodge. The thing seemed to have an almost infinite supply of toys and bones.

Genis let off a cry of "Wind Blade" and several blades of condensed air surrounded the chest. Stunned for a brief moment Ranma got right behind the chest and held its mouth closed.

"Colette!" Kratos shouted, "Use your powers now!"

"Right." Spoke a determined Colette. Enveloped in a holy aura with her wings out behind her, Colette began to chant softly.

A few seconds later Colette opened her eyes and spoke two words, "Angel Feathers!"

Ranma threw the chest in the air just as Colette shouted and dived to the ground.

Four disks of light were released from Colette's wings and cut the fake chest into pieces.

End Flashback 

'Man I sure could use one of those spells now.'

Outside of the mineshaft…

On one side stood the chosen's group. On the other side were Sheena and her guardian. Both sides seemed to size the other up.

The Wind Guardian had an outer-world look to it. It was colored white and skinny as a rail, possessing a vaguely humanoid look to it while floating in the air. It possessed no legs but rather had a single garment that covered the lower portion of its body, which didn't seem to be there.

Directly behind its head was a circular shaped object with a demon head sticking out the back. There was also a large paper seal on the object, probably to keep the thing bound to its master.

Sheena took out several cards from her robe and got into a fighters stance. The cards had strange markings on them and looked like seals a priest would use.

"Prepare yourself chosen of Mana!" she shouted.

Lloyd scratched the back of his head, "Is she really going to attack us with those things?"

"Don't let the weapon fool you Lloyd. Those cards are just as dangerous as a sword." Said Kratos.

At an unseen signal Lloyd and Kratos rushed forward to meet the assailants head on. Lloyd ran up to Sheena and slashed at her with his basic sword combo, only to be repelled as the assassin formed her cards into a miniature barrier and blocked his strikes. She retaliated as swordsman finished his combo.

The cards seemed to fly from her hands a short distance and return to her like a boomerang. It reminded Lloyd of the Fake in the fire temple, as the cards looked deceptively innocent while packed with energy.

Lloyd was caught off guard and the cards slipped by his defense impacting him in the chest and knocking him onto his back. Quickly regaining his feet Lloyd had just enough time to jump away as Sheena yelled out "Pyre Blast!"

The cards in Sheena's hand formed into a sphere with a fiery core and shot from her hand. The attack missed Lloyd and detonated harmlessly behind him.(1)

Kratos and the wind guardian squared off against eachother. The mercenary used his sword with the deadly grace that comes from years of practice while the guardian used the claws on its hands as a weapon.

Ducking under a slash and sidestepping an uppercut Kratos scored a direct his with the Demon Fang. Unfortunately the creature made a quick recovery and scored a small scratch on his arm.

Backing up a few steps, Kratos chanted softly to himself. When the Wind Guardian was within reach he shouted out his spell.

"LIGHTNING!" The sword that he was carrying briefly turned blue as Kratos did a quick jab, scoring directly on the Guardians chest. Blue electricity briefly surged over the monsters body as the thunder seeped through its veins.

Once again, the creature made an impossibly quick recovery and lashed out at Kratos, but the Mercenary was ready for it this time and sidestepped out of the way.

Lloyd ducked under another Pyre Blast and brought up his arm in time to block the next card strike.

"How many of those cards do you have?" Asked Lloyd as he went on the offensive, making several slashes at Sheena's hands to stop her from employing her cards again.

"Enough to take you down!" the assassin jumped back from another of Lloyd's swings and jumped into the air, releasing several shuriken like cards.

It was then that Colette finished her spell, "ANGEL FEATHERS!" 3 discs of light flew towards the incoming cards, knocking most of them out of the air and continuing on towards Sheena. The assassin was barely able to put up her guard in time before the discs hit, knocking her out of the air.

Quickly regaining her feet Sheena ran towards Lloyd who got into a defensive stance. The female ninja brought out another set of cards and prepared to attack only to jump to the side at the last second before she would have reached Lloyd.

She ran past Lloyd straight at Colette preparing to attack, only to trip as Raine's staff hit her legs. Sheena barely rolled out of the way in time as Genis shouted out, "FIREBALL!"

In the Mines:

Ranma threw another Demon Blast to cover his retreat from the Sword Dancer. The fight had been dragging on for a long time and it had not been going in his favor. So far he had managed to avoid serious injury by a combination of skill, agility, and a bit of luck. The thing may not have been a very fast walker but it attacked with speeds that rivaled his own.

The ki blast hit the demon head on but it was shrugged off just like all his other hits. Gritting his teeth Ranma charged in again, furiously dodging two of the swords and getting nicked by the third.

Ranma acted on pure instinct and caught the fourth that came towards his head. With an almighty wrench Ranma kicked off the ground taking the sword with him and breaking off the skeletons hand in the process.

"Damn that guy has an insanely strong grip!" Ranma mumbled to himself, "Oh well, at least I got one of his hands.

His face fell as he saw the Sword Dancer bend down and pick up his hand and reattach it to his body. Casually waving its hand, the sword Ranma had stolen began to vibrate and struggle in his grip.

Ranma let the sword go without much of a fight. He needed to conserve his energy for this guy and his ki reserves were running low.

Charging up another ki blast Ranma ran towards the sword Dancer, aiming for its head. Jumping into the air the martial artist released the blast as soon as he was level with the Dancer's head. The skeleton raised one sword to block the ki blast and cut it straight in half, the two pieces passing harmlessly by its head.

Back flipping in midair Ranma just barely dodged the sword that passed under his head in mid-flip. Unfortunately another sword came around and made a deep cut in his thigh.

Biting back a yell Ranma fell to the ground on his back, just in time to roll along the ground as the demon skeleton began stabbing the ground in an effort to impale him.

Finally regaining his feet after the fourth stab, Ranma jumped out of the creatures range, careful to land on one foot. Tearing off a strip of his shirt the warrior bound his leg with the makeshift bandage to stop the freely flowing blood.

'He's got to have a weak point somewhere! But I've hit him everywhere and nothing seems to slow him down short of pure disintegration!'

Forcing himself to ignore the pain in his leg Ranma ran forward again, sidestepping the downward slashes. As the last two swords came at him from above while the other two came at him from the sides Ranma dived between the skeletons legs, turning in midair so he was looking up at the monster.

As the skeleton was getting his swords ready Ranma struck the Sword Dancer in a place that would leave any normal man incapacitated, with a chi enhanced uppercut, following it up with another Demon Blast.

This shot seemed to register with the Sword Dancer as its torso turned around with amazing speed creating a small whirlwind of swords. Ranma fell back onto his back with a deep gash in his chest.

The Demon wasn't finished however, raising two swords above its head he brought them down right into Ranma's shoulders. This time Ranma didn't hold back the shout of pain.

Ranma swore he saw the creature grinning as he raised the final two swords about its head that were aimed for his chest and head.

The Anything Goes Martial Artist stared definitely at the skeleton above him.

"I'm going to win this even if I have to bring this whole mountain down on TOP OF YOU!" Summoning the last of his reserves Ranma fired two Demon Blasts at the wooden supports.

Somewhere Above Ground…

Sheena was a good fighter but even she had her limits. As it was she was finding herself hard pressed to fight four people at once, even if three of them were magic users.

Kratos gathered ki into his sword making it glow almost pure white. The Wind Guardian was putting up a remarkable fight and it had taken an incredible amount of damage and was still going too.

However there was one critical weakness that the female ninja had not taken into account when the Wind Guardian was summoned. Kratos ran towards the creature and jumped straight over it while releasing his Demon Fang. The guardian turned its back to let the shield take the damage but that was what Kratos had been counting on.

Running towards the monster again, Kratos brought his sword down, not on the creature, but on the seal that bound the Wind Guardian to its master.

At first nothing happened, but then a thin line appeared on the paper behind the Guardian. The paper divided into two pieces, turning into ash as it fell to the ground. The Wind Guardian, free of its seal, disappeared into the air.

The battle halted as the four people looked at a tired and worn Sheena.

"That was very sloppy." Commented Kratos as if he were talking about the weather, "You should have never placed the seal in plain sight of the enemy when you bound the spirit."

"D…damn you!" gasped the female ninja, out of breath, "Just you wait, I'll get you for this!"

The dialogue was interrupted as the ground suddenly shook, making everyone (except Kratos) briefly loose their footing. A single thought passed everyone's minds as they saw dust escape from the mine entrance.

'RANMA!'

Kratos started for Sheena but Raine got their first. She grabbed the assassin by the collar of her robe and shook her, "Ranma. Where is he?" she practically shouted into her face.

"Ran…ma?" she asked confused.

"The person who fell into the mineshaft with you! Where is he?"

"H…he's still down there!" she realized, shocked.

Raine dropped her to the ground and ran into the mine, closely followed by the rest of the gang. Sheena dropped something on the ground and disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

Ranma watched with satisfaction as the Sword Dancer tried to avoid the falling rocks. He was too weak to do anything but lie there and watch.

'So this is how it ends huh?' he thought to himself as he painfully moved his head to avoid a falling rock, 'Never thought that I'd die trying to kill off a demon. Hell, I'd thought I would have died on Earth.'

Ranma couldn't help but chuckle at that statement even as the rocks began to fall faster.

'Man, look at me. I'm on the verge of death and all I can do is make jokes about it.'

The Sword Dancer finally took a wrong step and had one of its arms crushed under a falling rock. Looking up Ranma saw an enormous rock that was steadily being dislodged as the shaking increased.

In a last ditch effort the demon-skeleton threw his sword at the rock before being buried under a pile of rubble. The sword finally dislodged the rock and it fell towards Ranma's head.

'Guess that makes it a tie then,' thought Ranma. He closed his eyes and waited for the pain… but it never came. He cautiously opened his eyes to see Kratos standing there holding the rock above his head.

"K…Kratos?" asked Ranma weakly.

The mercenary gave him a reassuring nod before barking out orders, "Raine! Lloyd! Grab Ranma and get out of here!" With a grunt of effort Kratos threw the boulder off to the side.

Ranma felt a pair of arms grab his legs and another pair grab under his arms. He was gently lifted off the ground and then he was moving. A few seconds later the section they were just in collapsed completely.

The party made a mad dash for the exit to the mines and got out, just as the entrance collapsed, sealing off the mine completely.

Ranma was laid out on the grass, his head supported by Kratos' hands.

"Ranma! What happened to you? Professor! Do something! Heal him!" Colette was a bit panicked.

Kratos silenced the chosen with a glare as cold as steel, "That's enough Colette. I'm sure that he will explain everything once he can talk."

Raine immediately called up her strongest healing spell and used it on Ranma. The wounds lessened but didn't disappear and the blood was still running. Lloyd ran to the pack that had been discarded during the fight and took out the bandages.

With the combined efforts of the chosen's group they were able to bandage all of Ranma's wounds and ease the pain with their healing spells.

"Ranma can you hear me?" asked Kratos softly.

Ranma's eyes fluttered open and looked around, "I'm not dead?" he asked weakly.

"Thankfully no." commented Raine. Now that Ranma was safe she had regained her calm and cool teacher attitude, "We were able to get you out of the mine before it collapsed."

"What attacked you?" asked Lloyd.

Slowly moving his arm Ranma withdrew the magic lens he had used to identify the Sword Dancer from his pocket.

Kratos immediately took the lens from his hand and looked into it, "Well that explains a few things." He muttered to himself.

"What is it?" asked Raine curiously.

Kratos handed her the lens and she looked through it, "I…I've never seen anything like it!" she exclaimed shocked.

"Professor?" asked Lloyd.

"We need to get to Izoold. It's not to far away and we need to get Ranma medical attention." Stated Kratos. The tone he used said quite clearly that the topic wasn't debatable, "Everything else can wait."

No more words were spoken as Raine and Lloyd helped to pick up Ranma off the ground. Ranma had settled into an uneasy sleep while Colette shouldered the company pack. Kratos kept his sword drawn all the way to the village.

A/N: Well, that was interesting. I hope you liked this chapter and the introduction of Sword Dancer, I thought he was one of the coolest enemies in the game.

(1)I always thought that in the game, Sheena's attacks were mediocre at best. Aside from her 'Over Limit' abilities (no spoilers please) she really didn't have any redeeming qualities, so I decided to add some .

Next Chapter Preview:

"The Sword Dancer is one of the greater demons of hell…"

"I shall now teach you how to defend yourself using your ki…"

"Raine? Is there any chance that you could teach me magic?"

"Stupid imposters!"

Just a little eye candy for you. Please remember to leave a **review** on the way out.


	15. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Spoon!

A/N: Happy Holidays! Consider this my Christmas present to all of my readers out there.

Ranma and the Land of Symphonia 

**Chapter 13: Calm After the Storm (Sort of)**

Raine stood over Ranma with her staff, pulsating a steady white aura. He lay on one of the beds in the Izoold inn. Finally after what seemed like an eternity she ceased her work and looked up.

"He'll live."

The group released a breath they did not know they were holding. Raine tried to stand up but wobbled precariously on her feet. Fortunately Kratos steadied her before she fell.

"She needs rest. She used most of her energy keeping Ranma alive." Gently grabbing her shoulders, the swordsman guided her over to another one of the beds and laid her down. She fell asleep almost instantly.

No one spoke for a while. Finally Lloyd asked, "So…are you going to tell us what happened?"

With a sigh Kratos withdrew the Magic Lens that Ranma had given him.

"Do you know what this is?" Kratos asked.

"A magic lens of course." Genis stated acting as though he swallowed the textbook, "Using a small amount of magi-technology and mana, the lens can be used to identify a person or monster telling the wielder detailed information about them while looking through the lens. The lens also has the ability to recall the image of the subject identified."

"So it's basically like a camera?" asked Colette.

"Something like that, yes." Kratos focused on the lens for a second and a life-like miniature image of the Sword Dancer appeared on the table Kratos was seated at.

"The Sword Dancer is one of the greater demons of hell, probably banished from the underworld, Niflheim." Kratos narrated, "The likely cause of his banishment was when he was contending for the position of ultimate ruler and failed, therefore getting exiled to the over world."

"So why did it attack Ranma?" asked Lloyd.

"The thing did not attack Ranma. He chose to fight it of his own free will."

"How can you be certain?" questioned Genis.

"…I know a bit about the nature of demons. The demons will only appear to strong ones whom they believe will defeat them. When they are defeated, only then will their spirits be set free. After that, no one really knows what happens."

"But Ranma defeated him, so it should be okay right?" asked Colette anxiously.

"If only it were that simple." Mumbled Kratos, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Somehow I knew you were going to say that." Genis and Colette jumped. Ranma had awoken.

"I see that you have adapted very well to that exsphere. The healing technique would not have been very effective otherwise." Mused the mercenary.

Ranma cut straight to the subject, "So what's going to happen now?"

"It is very likely the Sword Dancer will fight you twice more before it finally rests, each time growing more powerful. What you fought was merely a shadow of its true power."

If there were any crickets in this world, they would have been heard clearly in that moment.

"A…a…a shadow!" Lloyd finally stammered.

"I barely defeated the first one! And I had to bring the whole mountain down on top of him too!"

Kratos was careful not to let any emotion show on his face as he delivered the final piece of news, "It gets worse."

"How on earth can it get worse?" Ranma practically shouted, then winced as his injuries made themselves known.

"As I said before the Sword Dancer only shows itself to the ones he deems worthy. Since he showed himself to you that means that you will have to fight him…alone." The last word was barely audible.

Ranma could only think of one thing, 'Why me?'

"However, it is unlikely he will be showing up in the near future. Your paths may be destined to cross again but it will be very unlikely that he will show up unless you have a chance of beating him."

The martial artist was only depressed for a few seconds before breaking out into a smile, "Guess I'll just have to train harder for the rematch."

Kratos looked him straight in the eyes, "Count on it."

Unknown Location:

The mysterious assassin known as Sheena shivered once again as she recalled the scene she had watched from the hilltop. The Chosen's group had run into the collapsing mineshaft and had returned with the same person she had fallen with.

There were two wounds on his shoulders that had pierced straight through his body. A deep gash ran along his stomach and she could see several other deep cuts along his arms and legs.

Although she had grown up in a society where fighting was commonplace, she had never seen such brutality done on one person. However there was one thought that ruled over all her others and it sent shivers up her spine.

What if Ranma hadn't been there and she had been knocked unconscious? What if she had encountered the monster in the mine?

It could have been her.

Ranma was bedridden for three days. Fortunately he was anything but bored, as Raine supplied him with a constant supply of reading material to occupy his time.

The professor had exhausted her mana healing Ranma, and had been asleep for a day straight before regaining consciousness. Raine did not accept his condition as an excuse to get away from his studies.

On the fourth day Ranma was finally allowed to get up and explore the village. Giving the Katz team stationed there a wide berth.

Izoold was not very big, smaller than Isealia in fact. Like Isealia, the town had a rural feel to it with all the hoses made from wood of some type. The town bordered on the Sylvarant Ocean making most of its income by fishing, and had a small harbor that currently had several boats docked at it.

The word was around town that no one was out on the seas anymore because of the increase in monsters. These days only the brave (or foolish, as the other sailors said behind their backs) risked the seas. It was unfortunate because the groups next destination was across that monster infested water…

However, on the fourth day Ranma found such matters trivial, as Kratos had begun to train him again. This time Lloyd was taken along for the ride.

Estimated time: 4:00AM

SPLASH!

"GAH!" shouted Ranma, awoken from his sleep.

SPLASH!

"ARGH!" shouted Lloyd, sharing Ranma's fate.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes Ranma saw Kratos setting down two wooden buckets. Beside him Lloyd was reaching for his swords in the darkness.

"Get up and get dressed you two. Meet me outside." Was all he said before throwing the two boys some clothes. Ranma, expecting the weight of the shirt Kratos had thrown easily caught it as he braced himself for the unexpected weight. Lloyd was promptly knocked flat on his back.

"Ugh…what time is it?" mumbled Lloyd as he struggled to sit up.

"I don't know. The sun isn't up yet."

"That man isn't human." Grumbled Lloyd finally getting the shirt on. Cautiously, he stood up as the fatigue slowly left him, getting a feel for the weight. Ranma immediately put on his weighted shirt and jumped out of bed. He was at 100 and had energy to spare.

"Show off."

When Ranma had traveled around the world he had many senseis and learned many things, each with their own unique style of training. He thought that he had experienced the worst training from Genma, which was just short of torture. Kratos made Genma's training look easy.

It wasn't torture per say but running in weighted clothes, up and down the Ossa trail, 50 times, killing any enemies in their path, while sparring with each other did tend to get a little tiring after a while… just a little bit.

(If you haven't guessed by now, I'm being _sarcastic_)

After that, Kratos worked with them to perfect their techniques.

Ranma stood in a calm fighting stance, his arm extended holding a shaky ball of ki in his hands. Being pushed to the limit fighting Sword Dancer had slightly increased his stores of energy. It reminded him of that one anime he had seen about this mystic race of warriors that got stronger every time they were beaten within an inch of their life.

"You're letting too much emotion go into your ki blasts, make yourself devoid of all feelings and you will obtain more power." Tutored Kratos, "Let your emotions be like ice, giving nothing away."

'Like ice huh?' Ranma pictured ice in his mind and tried to combine it with his aura, without much success. Dropping back into his meditative stance, he began to work on clearing his mind again.

Somewhere in Joketsuzoku a certain old ghoul (WHAM!) I…er mean Matriarch sneezed suddenly as she considered teaching Shampoo the Hiru Shoten Ha.

Lloyd was going through a quick sword kata that he had made himself. His knowledge had been gained from the little Dirk knew about sword fighting (preferring to use a hammer instead) and the rest he had made himself.

The kata involved several jabs in quick succession followed by an uppercut and a down slash in midair. He had just finished when Kratos approached him.

"Lloyd, use your inner energy to increase your speed."

"How?" he asked puzzled.

"Use your exsphere as your focus and let the energy flow into your body." He explained.

Lloyd focused and the energy came into him naturally. He began starting the kata again, slowly at first but gradually moving more quickly as the ki flowed through his body. Acting on impulse he cried out, "Sword Rain!"

Almost too quick for the human eye to follow, Lloyd lashed out with his swords in several jabs. The attack was brief but very fast and effective in the few seconds it was active.

"It will do." Said Kratos as he walked over to check on Ranma.

Lloyd smiled to himself as Kratos walked away. It was probably as close to a compliment that Kratos would ever give him. All of a sudden the adrenaline rush took its toll and he fell to his knees exhausted.

"I shall now teach you how to defend yourself using your ki. Ranma, attack me with your best shot."

Ranma summoned his inner energy, "DEMON BLAST!"

"GUARDIAN!" A green field of energy surrounded Kratos briefly and the shield absorbed the ki blast harmlessly.

"The technique is called Guardian. Although it is very draining, the technique will stop almost any attack, letting the damage go to your ki instead of your body. Sustaining it for long periods of time can be very draining and could permanently damage your body, so only hold it for a few brief seconds to let the attack pass."

It wasn't hard to learn the technique. It was merely raising your battle aura, or ki, into a spherical shape to defend against attacks on all sides. By the end of the day both Ranma and Lloyd were able to raise a weak ki barrier. Kratos told them that with practice they would get better at it.

It was around midday when Lloyd and Ranma awoke from their near unconscious states. While they had been resting Raine and Genis had scouted around the town looking for a ship. However the only person brave (or stupid) enough to take them out to sea was currently at Palmacosta and would not be back until the next day.

Fortunately this gave Ranma the time he needed to do his task…

Raine looked up from the book she was reading to see Ranma standing over her.

"What is it Ranma?"

"Um…well I never really thanked you for saving my life and all that. Without you I would have been a goner."

"Your welcome," she responded, "So what did you really want to ask me?"

'Man she's sharp,' thought Ranma, "Well… I couldn't help but notice how useful those spells were, and I was wondering if you…could teach me magic." He finished.

Raine pondered for a moment, "Normally I would be willing to teach you but there are some complications."

"Like what?"

"First of all, only people with elvin blood can use magic, with exceptions like Colette."

"Oh, well I'm pretty sure I'm all human so thanks anyway."

"Hold on a second," Raine moved behind Ranma and placed her hands on his shoulders, "I'm going to run a quick aura scan on you."

Raine fell into a meditative posture and scanned Ranma's aura. She looked at the powerful lines of ki that coursed through his body from his core. Examining the core of his ki she found it nearly pure white with some traces of blue. Just looking at it gave her a feeling of confidence.

Then she looked past the ki and saw… darkness. There was a faint meow every now and then and occasionally a pair of yellow eyes shown through.

'That must be the Neko-Ken,' she thought, ' However that is a battle for another time.'

Looking around further she came across a gray barrier, not a walled off section of the mind but part of the mind that was sealed by a third party.

'Now who would have done this?' thought Raine, 'Oh well, maybe I should ask Ranma before I remove it.'

Outside…

Raine suddenly opened her eyes, "Ranma, did you know that part of your mind has been sealed off?"

Ranma digested that, "WHAT! You're telling me that someone's been messing with my mind?"

"Yes. Usually those seals are placed there for a good reason, such as to seal away inner demons or erase painful memories. Other times they can be used to lock certain abilities such as a berserkers blood lust."

"Remove it."

"Are you sure? The person who did it made the seal to last a lifetime."

"That seal was put there without my knowledge or permission. Please remove it."

Raine placed her hands on his shoulders again, "Okay, but I warn you, this is going to hurt."

Inside…

The professor began to trace lines on the barrier in an intricate pattern, with an accuracy gained through years of practice. With a final line and a shout of "Dispel!" the barrier shattered and the energy burst forth.

Outside Ranma doubled over feeling as though white fire was coursing through his veins. The pain only lasted for a second but it was enough to make any grown person faint. Of course…this is Ranma.

The martial artist got up and brushed himself off, "Well it sure felt like it worked." He mumbled.

"So what did that do?" he asked the healer.

"I'll have to check again," explained Raine, "Are you feeling alright?"

"Eh, I'm fine. So what did that do to me?" he asked again.

Raine did another scan. Everything seemed to be the same, his ki core seemed largely unaffected but right next to the core…

The professor shook her head, there was no way what she was seeing was real! Quickly looking at his blood stream she saw the telltale signs. There was no denying it.

Ranma looked over at Raine as he felt her break the connection, "What is it?"

Raine was staring at him shocked. She mumbled something that Ranma was unable to hear.

"Sorry professor, I didn't quite catch that."

Raine closed her eyes and composed herself before looking at Ranma.

"I didn't think it was possible but there's no mistaking it."

"Mistaking what?" asked Ranma starting to get frustrated.

"Ranma…you're one quarter elf."

"I'm **WHAT?"**

A/N: Ooh a cliffhanger. Just kidding.

Kratos looked at the man seated across the table from him.

"If you need a ship, mine is the fastest one you'll find anywhere across Sylvarant. My ship the Centennial Hawk goes .5 past sailing speed."

The mercenary sighed as he listened to the man ramble on about how great his ship was. Finally he interrupted, "How much to get to Palmacosta?"

"Nothing."

All of the swordsman's senses were immediately on high alert, "Nothing?"

"Well, nothing… except protection."

Kratos caught the slight twitch of the man's hand. "Protection from what?"

"Well…er you know…the sea monsters and all that."

He knew the man wasn't telling him everything but he also knew that he wasn't going to get a better offer.

"Agreed then."

"I'm one quarter elf? How?" The martial artist was pacing up and down the beach rambling to himself.

"I'm not sure Ranma, but it means that your parents were either both quarter elves to begin with, or one of them was human while the other was a half elf."

"But both my parents were human! At least I'm sure my pop was. I never saw my mother."

"It could be that you mom was a half elf," provided Raine.

"Well, maybe, but I doubt it. Pops would have told me something like that."

"Maybe your mom never told him."

"Or it could be that they aren't my real parents."

Raine stood up from her sitting position and halted Ranma's pacing, "We don't have enough information to go on just yet."

Ranma nodded his head. What she said made sense.

"So…since I'm a quarter-elf and all, can I learn magic now?" He was smiling like an eager child now, his earlier depression forgotten.

Raine gave a small laugh, "I suppose so. Although you may need to get help from Genis too."

A/N: I tried to update my other stories but I just couldn't stay away from this one. My thanks go to all of you who reviewed my last chapter and my curses go to the FF.nazi who said you couldn't respond to reviews in your story. Oh well. Just make sure to leave a signed review so I can respond to any questions.

OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE

"If only it were that simple." Mumbled Kratos, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Somehow I knew you were going to say that." Genis and Colette jumped. Ranma had awoken.

"I see that you have adapted very well to that exsphere. The healing technique would not have been very effective otherwise." Mused the mercenary.

Ranma cut straight to the subject, "So what's going to happen now?"

"Now that you have defeated it once…"

"Yes…"

"It will seek you out again…"

"Yes…"

"And try to marry you since you defeated it in combat."

"Yeah…WHAT! What kind of a stupid law is that!"

Somewhere near Jusenkyou a Matriarch sneezed.

END OMAKE

Preview of Next Chapter…

"Pirates!"

"Stupid Desians!"

"Lousy imposters!" (For real this time)

"What's a Kraken?"

Happy Holidays!


	16. Chapter 14

A/N: The following scene contains content unsuitable for flamers. If you have the intention of burning my story then I suggest that you press the back button on your browser and leave now.

Now without further ado, I present:

Ranma and the Land of Symphonia 

**Chapter 14: A Time of Thought**

**And…**

**Aboard the Centennial Hawk**

"Do you really expect us to get to Palmacosta on that thing?"

"…He was the only one who would take the job on short notice." Muttered Kratos.

"I think I'd rather take the long notice and the better ship myself."

The Centennial Hawk only appeared seaworthy, in the sense that it was on the sea, and not currently sinking. Ranma had seen boats before, they had nearly hit him on his journey to China, but this had to be the ugliest piece of junk ever to touch the ocean.

Entire portions of the ship had been patched over with various pieces of metal from several different structures. Pieces of shrapnel jutted out on odd places and Ranma was even convinced he saw some shingles from a house roof covering part of the ships hull.

The sail of the ship seemed like on big patch. It may have been white at one time but so many different sections of it had been repaired the original color had been lost.

"I don't like the look of this," said Raine nervously.

"I'd feel safer swimming." Said Ranma quietly.

"Quit your bellyaching!"

The sharp voice came from behind Ranma, making him jump. He wasn't the only one as Lloyd had his sword pointed at the man's throat.

"She may not look like much but she's as sturdy as they come," the man casually gripped Lloyd's sword between his thumb and forefinger and slowly moved the point away from his neck.

"So, what's your name?" asked Colette.

"The names Han. Han Duo at your service. The boat may wreck, people may die, and the ship may be upside-down but by got I'll get you there."

Needless to say this didn't reassure them.

Everyone stood there awkwardly for a few seconds before Han Duo spoke up again, "Well come on, what are you waiting for?"

Not surprisingly it was Ranma who stepped forward first. He stepped on the plank testing its weight, finally putting his entire body on it.

"Seems okay." He said to no one in particular. Confident, he took a step forward…

**CRASH!**

And fell into the water below.

"Hmm. Should have seen that one coming." Mumbled Han Duo.

An hour later the chosen's group had climbed on board and they had set sail. Kratos said the voyage was to take three days and they would spend the night on the seas.

"Three days?" Raine almost shouted.

"Well, normally we would be there by tomorrow night, but…" Kratos cast a glace at the dingy sail.

Raine merely shook her head and walked off muttering under her breath, "I knew this journey would put me on a boat sooner or later…" Only Ranma heard her.

Genis had other problems, "Hey Duo, where are we going to sleep? This boat doesn't even look like it can support our weight let alone have enough room for us to bunk."

"Well I'm sorry my ships to tiny for ya," He replied tartly, "Explore it yourself if you've got a mind to."

Genis wandered off down below also mumbling to himself.

"Um Mr. Duo?"

A twitch was starting to develop in the captain's eye, "Yes?"

"Do you have a bathroom on board? The ship seems so small…"

Han Duo clenched his fist his reply forcibly cheerful, "Go down below and use the first door on the left."

"Yo, Han Duo!" called Ranma.

"Are you here to complain about the ship too?" he asked pleasantly, the twitch in his eyes gave him away however.

"No actually, I was wondering what you had to eat on this dump."

Han merely grunted and threw something at him. Ranma caught it by reflex and found a fishing rod in his hand.

"Eat all ya want." He said grumpily and stalked off.

With a sigh Ranma baited his hook and cast the line.

_It's quit the world I've been thrown into._ Thought Ranma to himself, _I don't really think I've had time to think about it till now._

He felt a small tug on the end of the line. Performing a quick tug, Ranma found a tiny fish on the end of the line. Releasing the hook from its mouth he threw it back into the water.

_It's hard to believe that I've only been here for about 2 weeks. With all these crazy adventures going on it seems like 2 months._

Feeling a large tug this time, Ranma casually flicked his wrist and sent the fish sailing into the metal bucket that lay beside him.

_It's also been a while since I stayed in the same company for longer than a week. Pops moved us around so much I didn't have time to make friends._

He briefly entertained himself with the thought of his old buddy Ukyo but quickly banished that though.

_It's not like I'm going to get back any time soon. Those gods Kratos spoke of seem to be more myth than reality. But then again, do I even want to go back? I have people here that I can call friends. Even Raine isn't so bad, once you get to know her._

Raine often played the part of cold cruel professor but underneath that she was really a caring person. One only had to look at Genis to figure that out.

_And Kratos, man. He's a far better trainer than pops ever was. And pops always said to take training opportunities whenever you could._

Ranma began to let his mind wander. He thought about his elfin ancestry and his time at Jusenkyou. Now that he had time to sort his thoughts out he remembered his time clearly. _I guess I really owe that goddess a favor. Who knows? If I hadn't come to this world I could of ended up falling in the spring of drowned pig or something. Even so, I kinda miss…_ "Penny for your thoughts?" Ranma looked up from his thinking to find Genis standing beside him. Even sitting down Genis was barely taller than him. "Just thinking." He replied mildly. 

"Bout what?" Genis took a seat next to him.

"Well…stuff," he replied cautiously.

"I see." Genis had replied in a voice that belied his true age, "Your homesick aren't you."

Ranma looked at him strangely for a few seconds, "Has anyone ever told you your pretty darn perceptive?"

"I think everyone's suffering from it actually," he continued, "Raine and I haven't really been far out of town and I know Lloyd and Colette haven't even been to the desert until the journey had started. I don't know about Kratos though."

"He's a mercenary. He probably doesn't have a home."

They sat there in silence for a few more minutes looking at the waves.

"What do you think of Colette?" asked Genis suddenly.

"Huh?"

"I mean, what do you think of her as the Chosen of Mana?"

Ranma thought carefully about his answer before he replied. This was not a time to stick his foot in his mouth.

"Well, she really has her heart in it. She's a bit of a klutz but she's not stuck up like some of the other priests and holy people that I've met. She's really determined and I think that's a good quality for someone destined to save the earth."

"You really think so?"

"Well…yeah. People always told me I suck at lying…"

They sat there in silence for a few minutes looking at the waves. Occasionally Ranma would jerk the rod and send a fish flying into the bucket.

"Where is everyone?" asked Ranma suddenly.

"Lloyd's asleep. He said that Kratos worked him to death this morning and he probably wont wake until tomorrow, and if I know anything about my sis, she's asleep with her head under a pillow."

"She gets seasick?" asked Ranma surprised.

"Yeah, she tries to hide it but everyone can see it." He joked.

"What about Colette?"

"She's listening to us."

Ranma turned around quickly and saw a head of blond hair ducking behind a corner.

"Come on and join us Colette." Genis patted the ground next to him.

Nervously, Colette came out of hiding and sat down next to Genis, "Um Ranma? We're you serious when you said that about me?" she asked timidly.

"Of course I was!" Ranma said quickly, "I don't know of a better person who could take your place! Not that I've met many people…but still!"

Colette smiled one of her special smiles that she reserved only for her friends, "Thanks Ranma. That really makes me feel better."

'Wow she sure does look cute when she smiles,' thought Ranma. Just as quickly, he banished the thought.

His train of thought was interrupted by a gigantic tug on the fishing line that nearly ripped the rod from his hand. Ranma immediately stood up and tugged on the rod with all his might, still not making any progress. The thing on the other end was slowly pulling him overboard.

Hands gripped his shoulders; Colette had grabbed him to try and help pull the fishing rod back, which was threatening to break from the pressure.

"What the hell is on this line?" Ranma shouted.

"I don't know but its tough!" Genis responded.

"Colette! Go wake Lloyd! I don't think I can take this by myself." Shouted Ranma. Although it was not in his nature to ask for help, he really lost a lot of his ego when he faced the Sword Dancer. And anything that could match him in strength was trouble in and of itself.

"Hold on a bit longer." Genis shouted. From the corner of his eye, Ranma noticed a purple aura surrounding the kid who had brought his kendama out. A few seconds later a shout of "LIGHTNING" heralded the coming of a blue bolt of energy.

The shock hit the water and all was still. Hearing several feet behind them, Ranma turned to find Han Duo, Kratos, Lloyd, and Colette behind them. Even Raine was there, albeit a little queasy.

"What happened?" asked Kratos.

Ranma shrugged, "Don't know. Something grabbed on to the line and I don't think it was a fish."

Kratos grabbed the line and yanked upwards on it. Everyone recoiled as they saw an unmoving tentacle wrapped around the fishing line.

The mercenary was the only person who was not surprised, "So I suppose this is the protection part of the deal then?" He spoke directly to captain Duo.

"Err…well, yes."

"The ferryman asks a high price," he mumbled to no one in particular. Dropping the line back into the water, Kratos drew his sword and released the holds on his battle aura. Everyone around him followed suit.

"What are we fighting?" asked Raine. Her seasickness was gone; in its place was the cool commanding woman that Ranma knew of.

"My guess would be," Several hundred tentacles broke the surface of the water, surrounding the boat, "A kraken." He finished calmly.

"What's a Kraken?" shouted Ranma.

"A large sea monster with a lot of tentacles." Said Captain Duo simply.

As one the tentacles attacked the boat, causing Chaos everywhere. Around the ship people were franticly dodging the whip like appendages, getting an attack in here and there. Captain Duo had even taken an oar and was beating any that came within reach.

Several times the Kraken had tried to crush the boat by wrapping its tentacles around it but was thwarted by Kratos and Raine's quick thinking and actions. Then it got smart.

SMASH!

"What was that?" shouted Lloyd.

"He just punched a hole in the boat!" shouted Genis.

Captain Duo came up behind Kratos and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I need your help."

"Obviously." He responded curtly.

Duo ignored the jibe, "I can protect this boat but I need more power. I need you to form a mana link with me."

Kratos briefly closed his eyes and flashed white to the naked eye. Captain Duo also flashed white as his ki registered Kratos' power.

"Don't take too long."

Tuning out the noise around him, Captain Duo sat in the middle of the ship and closed his eyes.

"What the hell is he doing?" shouted Lloyd.

Ranma beat off another attacking tentacle and looked at Han.

"Ouch!" Ranma blinked several times to get the spots out of his eyes. Reaching around for a nearby water source, Ranma found a small pool of water and splashed some of it into his eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"That guys throwing off more power than Kratos!"

Although he couldn't quite sense chi yet, Duo was throwing off enough power for anyone to see if they looked carefully enough.

The Kraken had not been idle while Duo was meditating. It had punched another two holes in the boat and water was starting to leak in.

"The ship ain't gonna hold out much longer!"

"Brace yourself! Here it comes again!"

The largest tentacle yet had lifted itself out of the water, poised to smash down in the middle of the boat.

"We can't stop it!"

The tentacle paused in the middle of the air as if to build up tension, then fell into the middle of the ship…

BOING!

Only to rebound back as if it had hit a rubber wall.

"What happened?" asked Ranma.

"A major protection spell." Said Raine, who had come up behind him, "It's an easy spell to cast but Captain Duo put a barrier on the whole ship. I cant even make it that powerful!"

The kraken was not the smartest beast ever to walk the earth. He tried several more times to hit the ship, but was stopped by the barrier each time.

"How long is this thing going to hold?"

"About 10 minutes." Kratos had joined them and was looking overboard at the shadow of the Kraken in the water, "We hope it's going to be enough time for that thing to loose interest."

"Not likely," said Captain Duo, "That things been out for me blood at least 3 years now."

"3 years?" shouted Lloyd, "What the hell did you do to piss that thing off?"

"Its not my fault! He overreacted!"

Raine sighed, "We're not solving anything right now, we need to come up with a course of action."

"How about a concentrated lightning spell?" asked Ranma, "The water should be able to conduct it down to his body and stun him. We could channel energy into Genis like we did before."

"That might work, but a regular lightning spell, no matter how concentrated, would be like throwing rocks at it. The rubbery skin on the body is semi-resistant to electricity that doesn't pierce the skin." Explained Kratos.

"How about we enchant someone's blade with lightning then?" asked Duo, "Then we can pierce the demons hide."

"Sounds good. I'll do the piercing." Lloyd unsheathed his swords and handed them to Kratos.

"Genis, watch how I do this so you can do the same thing to the other sword."

"This isn't a time for lessons," shouted Ranma. The Kraken had renewed its attack on the barrier, each strike making a loud ringing sound.

"Think of it has hands on experience!"

'If this is hands on experience then I'd hate to see what he thinks a real fight is.' Thought Ranma.

"Lord Rodyle!"

"Enter."

A desian shaman entered the office. He looked like a normal desian except for the gold insignia he wore on his helmet. Instead of the usual sword or crossbow that was assigned to the grunts, the captain held a staff that singled him out as a magic user.

"What news do you bring?" asked Rodyle.

"The chosen's party is crossing the ocean to Palmacosta. They are on a slow ship so it will take them an estimated three days."

Rodyle put his hand to his chin in thought, "Who is with the chosen?"

The shaman brought out a folder and placed it on the desk, "Our spies weren't able to get much. We have confirmed however, that Lloyd Irving of the angelus project, and Ranma Saotome, an escaped ranch prisoner, are aboard that vessel."

"Saotome? Of _that_ project?"

"The very same sir."

Rodyle turned to the giant map of Sylvarant placed behind his desk. Taking out a few pins, he placed them on the map, showing the chosen's position.

"I want our pirate unit to intercept them before they reach the port. At their rate of speed we can take them…here." He placed a red pin on the map.

"It will be done sir."

"I'm telling you man, this is the best gig yet. She even looks like the chosen!"

"I dunno man. Impersonating Ranma seems like a bad idea to me. You did hear that he broke out of the Iselia Human Ranch right?"

"He'll never know! As long as we travel faster then them we can mark them as the imposters. Its foolproof!"

"So what happens if we get caught?"

"Don't worry, we wont."

"…Alright I'm in."

To be continued…

A/N: Well that was a bit different from the original storyline ne? Once again, please read and review the story, I want to know where my mistakes are.

At this point I'll probably go back and redo some of the older chapters. I went back and read them myself and I couldn't believe how many mistakes I made. Oh well. It's spring break now so I have a good amount of time on my hands to write to my hearts content.

Till next time.


	17. Chapter 15

A/N: Welcome back! After a long wait, I have finally decided to update "Ranma and the Land of Symphonia." The thing is, as I was writing this story, I realized that the name "Ranma and the Land of Symphonia" is a bit much for a story title, so I'm currently trying to find an alternate name. If you have any suggestions, I'd like to hear them. Without further ado, on with the story.

**Chapter 15: Battle Against the Kraken**

**And**

**Desian's Desires**

Ranma watched as Kratos released controlled lightning in his hand into the blade, as if persuading it that the blade was where it wanted to go. Instead of a fast concentrated stream, it was a slow and graceful, like putting the finishing touches on a meal. Beside Kratos, Genis was doing the same thing to Lloyd's other blade, albeit a little less graceful.

Meanwhile, while the Kraken couldn't penetrate the ship, the passengers on board did not have such protection. The Kraken also seemed to realize this and started going for the people.

"How much dodge longer do duck you need?" yelled Ranma, furiously dodging the whip like tentacles.

"30 seconds, hold on!"

"Genis! Look out!"

The elf had just stood up from enchanting Lloyd's sword only to see a particularly thick tentacle coming at him. With no time to duck, he put his hands in front of his face...

**PUSH**

Only to be knocked out of the way at the last minute by Lloyd. The tentacle smacked into Lloyd and sent him flying into the side of the boat, unconscious.

"LLOYD!" Genis stood up and rushed over to his friend.

"He's ok," said Raine calmly, coming up beside him, "Get him below deck before he gets thrown overboard."

"Ranma! Catch!" Ranma turned just in time to catch Lloyd's swords by the hilts, "I hope you know how to use them," said Kratos as he drew his sword and cut at the tentacles.

Although the practice of anything goes forbade the use of weapons, they weren't completely ignorant of them. After all, the best way to counter a style was to know it and practice it. Therefore, Ranma knew the basics of several sword forms.

The lightning that raced along the blade briefly shocked Ranma's hand, almost making him drop it, but then lessened to a small tingle, as if welcoming him as a kindred spirit.

"I'll be back in a minute!" shouted Ranma as he jumped over the side of the boat.

"You have 30 seconds."

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Ranma dove gracefully off the side of the boat, the two swords enchanted with lightning in each hand. The water was at a near freezing temperature, but he quickly adjusted to it, subconsciously using his aura to heat up his body. Swimming carefully so as to not impale himself with Lloyd's swords, Ranma made his way into the depths to where the Kraken's head was.

The sight of the Kraken's body nearly made him drop the swords.

Nearly 10 feet underwater was the body of the beast, looking like an oversized squid, with its enormous and countless appendages reaching up towards the boat that seemed miniature in comparison. With its sheer size it could have easily pulled the entire boat underwater without even having to break through the hull or deal with its protection spells. Seeing as it hadn't done that quite yet, Ranma had to assume that the beast was just plain stupid. A lucky break for them.

The beast also had a single eye, swamp green, clearly seen even through the murky depths of the water, giving off an eerie glow. But perhaps the worst part was its mouth, a gaping maw of teeth the size of his hand. It was a sight that he wouldn't soon forget.

It was a good thing that the Kraken's attention was fully on the ship. He didn't believe that he would have had as easy a time with it if the things attention were focused on him. Swimming as quickly as he could, Ranma got close to the monster without going into the view of its eye. With a shout of triumph, he drove both swords into the back of the Kraken.

The effect was near instantaneous. All of the tentacles seemed to lock up as the volts traveled up and down the length of its body, the electricity conducting quite well in the water.

Then, as if in slow motion, the whole body of the beast retreated down under the water.

Ranma would have watched longer, but he was suddenly reminded of his need for air. With a last glance, he kicked his feet and rose to the surface, the enchanted blades tightly in hand.

But the Kraken wasn't done yet.

Faster than Ranma could ever move through water, one last whip like tentacle sped towards Ranma, wrapping itself around his neck, cutting off his already limited air supply. In panic, Ranma brought his hands to his neck, furiously grabbing at the slippery appendage. Lloyd's swords, dropped in the surprise attack, sank to the bottom of the sea.

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Back up on deck, everyone was regrouping from the attack. Although the battle had barely lasted 5 minutes, everything on deck was knocked over and several pints of water had gotten on board. The holes in the ship needed to be patched up and...

"Ship off the starboard side!" shouted Captain Duo from the crows nest.

"Um..." Lloyd scratched his head, "What's starboard?"

"It's on your right!" Everyone turned right and saw nothing, "No you fools! Your other right!"

Everyone turned left and saw nothing.

"Bloody hell! Its right there!" Captain Duo pointed towards the front of the boat.

Sure enough, there was a ship coming towards them, but unlike the sailboats and fishing-boats that were seen commonly in the harbors of small villages, this one had metallic plating on it, and was traveling towards them faster than any sailboat could go.

"That's a Desian battle cruiser." Said Kratos gravely, "It seems that the Desians know who is on this boat."

Suddenly, Lloyd had another revelation, "Guys! Where's Ranma?"

There was a seconds pause and then...

SPLASH!

SPLASH!

Kratos and Lloyd were in the water.

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_Cant...breathe..._

Oxygen was becoming a pleasant memory down in the murky depths of Ranma's prison. His mouth was filled with water and he could almost feel his lungs collapsing. Desperate, he tried to mount a ki blast, but his concentration was rapidly fading.

_Need...air..._

The surface was a mere three feet away, but the super strong grip of the Kraken had halted his progress permanently. As a last ditch hope, he tried to mount a last offensive against the beast. He searched his body for any energy he had left.

And it came.

The last traces of his mental blocks became undone. Suddenly lightning was arcing all across his body, his eyes turning a brilliant shade of violet and sending a stream of controlled electricity through his body and into the tentacle. For a brief moment the tentacle seized up, and then fell limply back into the depths of the sea, defeated at last. Ranma only had time to give off his trademark grin before blacking out from the lack of air.

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On Deck...

'Kratos, wherever you are, hurry your ass up!' thought Captain Duo franticly as he watched the Desian warship get closer and closer. With Ranma, Lloyd, and Kratos overboard, they couldn't move their ship, effectively making them sitting ducks.

The only answer the sea gave was several bubbles rising to the surface.

'Damn. I hate to do this, but I think the only option we have is to jump ship, but if the Desians see us then we'll be killed! Unless...'

Captain Duo cast a furtive glance at the Desian warship before making up his mind.

"Everyone! Get below deck! We're jumping ship!"

"How we gonna jump ship below deck?"

"Just shut up and trust me!"

Moving quickly, the chosen's group moved below deck into Captain Duo's cabin. The captain then proceeded to tear apart his bunk, sending sheets and feathers flying everywhere.

"What are you doing?"

"A year ago I installed a trap door just for occasions like this when I needed to jump ship without being seen."

"And why on earth would you ever need to do that?"

"Well, it's easier than kicking a hole in the side of my boat like last time."

Captain Duo pulled away the frame of the bunk and revealed a trap door. Gripping the handle he tried pulling it with no success.

"Damn! It's rusted shut!"

There was a huge crash and everyone had to brace themselves as the ship rocked violently.

"The Desians are here!" shouted Colette.

"Move," Commanded Raine in a tone of absolute authority.

Captain Duo did what any man in his situation would do and got the hell out of the way.

**SMASH!**

The trap door flew off its hinges, along with a good portion of the starboard side.

Captain Duo mumbled something about price gouging bastards before addressing the crew again, "Alright, everyone jump!"

One by one, each member of the crew jumped through the sizeable hole that Raine had made. Finally, only Raine and Duo were left.

"Um…" started Raine nervously, turning back to look at Duo, "Is this a bad time to tell you that I can't swim?"

The captain resisted the urge to facefault. Such a maneuver would waste valuable time. Instead, he smiled at her, "Yep. I don't think you could have picked a worse time."

With that, he grabbed Raine by the waist and jumped overboard, just as the Desians broke down the door.

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**SPLASH!**

Raine flailed around franticly for a few seconds, looking for something to grab on to, only relaxing when her hands found the trap door she had kicked out moments earlier.

"Well, now what do we do?" asked Colette.

Captain Duo turned to Colette to see that she had her angel wings out and was hovering above the water. 'Lucky girl.'

"We sit, wait, and hope for someone to rescue us." Explained Captain Duo simply.

"And just how long is that going to take?" sputtered Genis, trying to spit out a mouthful of water his impromptu dive had given him.

Duo shrugged and began floating on his back, "Don't know, could be a day or a week. I was out here for 10 days once before someone found me and gave me something to eat."

**SPLASH!**

It was at that moment Kratos and Lloyd surfaced, dragging a waterlogged and unconscious Ranma in tow.

"Yeah? Well I have a better plan." Commented Kratos, "Colette, do you think you can carry Lloyd?"

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"Commander!"

"What is it? Have you finished your search of the ship yet?"

"Yes sir. The chosen's group and the captain of the ship are gone

"What? Impossible!"

Another soldier came up behind the first and confirmed the report, "It's true sir. We searched the whole ship and there's no trace of anybody. It does look like the ship has been attacked though. Someone may have gotten here before us."

"Could they have jumped ship?"

"Unlikely sir. We had their ship in view the whole time they were on deck. We would have known if they had jumped or not." Said the first Desian.

"But what about all the holes in the ship? Maybe they could have jumped through one of those!"

"And I'm telling you that we were at the perfect angle on their ship to see where they would have jumped off!"

"Silence," ordered the commander, "Our orders are to bring the Chosen back alive and unharmed. I want this ship torn apart and searched, and then I want you to check the waters within 5 miles of this ship. They couldn't have gotten far."

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Colette breathed heavily with effort as she hauled Lloyd over the railing of the Desian warship. Exhausted, she slowly sank down back to water, giving Lloyd a reassuring nod before disappearing from view.

Taking the sword Kratos had loaned him, Lloyd snuck up behind an unsuspecting guard who was watching the proceedings on the Centennial Hawk and not paying attention to his surroundings.

Not even his helmet could protect him from the blunt trauma that Lloyd caused when he brought the hilt down upon the guys head.

While Lloyd could bring himself to kill people when he had to, he couldn't really bring himself to stab someone in the back. Taking a moment to make sure he was knocked out, Lloyd looked around for some type of rope he could use.

Spying the life preserver on the side of the ship, Lloyd quickly cut the rope off, not bothering with the knots, and tied it to the railing. Then he threw the rope overboard.

Kratos climbed up, followed shortly by Genis and Raine, the latter looking like she wanted to throw up over the rail.

Finally, Colette who was still in the water tied the rope around Ranma, allowing Kratos and Lloyd to haul him up.

As soon as Ranma was brought over the rail, Raine immediately went to work checking his vital signs and administering healing.

"How is he?" asked Kratos.

"He'll live. His lungs just need to cough up the water."

As if to prove her point, Ranma suddenly sat up hacking up seawater. The coughing went on for a few seconds before he could coherently talk again.

"Ranma? Are you ok? What happened down there?" asked Colette, fawning over him.

"Drove it…off…hopefully…"

"Keep watch over him," Commanded Kratos, "I'm going to have a word with the captain of the ship," bending down to the knocked out Desian, he unsheathed his sword and threw it to Lloyd. Then, with two swift blows, he knocked away the planks the Desians had used to board their ship.

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10 minutes later…

"Bloody hell, I had to abandon another boat," Muttered Captain Duo under his breath, "and I was still making payments on it too."

Ranma sweat dropped but said nothing.

"Where's Kratos?" he asked after a bit.

"Talking to the captain."

"Indeed. And he has agreed to let us ride free."

Everyone turned to Kratos, who had the captain of the ship at sword point, with several minor cuts and gashes.

"In fact, after some debate, he agreed to give us the ship and vacate the premises immediately." With that, Kratos placed a solid kick in the man's back and sent him overboard.

"Most of the troops, along with the captain of the guard, are on our ship and unfortunately, they have no way to get back."

It was true. Han Duo's ship was about half the size of the Desian warship, making travel between the two ships difficult without the planks Kratos had knocked into the ocean.

"Ranma, Lloyd! I want this ship cleared of Desians. Search everywhere, including bunks and storage rooms. The main fighting force may be on Duo's ship but I don't want to be surprised later."

Ranma gave a mock salute in reply and ran off with Lloyd in tow.

"Captain Duo, do you think you can drive one of these things?"

"Aye, well it can't be too difficult."

"Then you'll follow me to the bridge."

"Wait," cut in Genis, "What about us?"

"You'll go down to storage and salvage anything you can. Lloyd also needs a new set of swords so check the armory if they have one here. "

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"Commander!"

"What?"

"Our ship is leaving!"

"WHAT?"

"I said our ship is…"

"I didn't tell you to repeat that! Where the hell is the captain of the ship?"

"Right here sir." Two Desians supporting a third walked up to the captain.

"Co…man…der…" the wounded man breathed heavily, "Chosen's…group…took ship. Sorry."

The man's head slumped down on his shoulders, his eyes closed.

The commander turned away from the captain and mentally swore to himself, "Well, there goes my career down the drain."

Sighing to himself and preparing himself for a long task ahead of him, he asked, "Can anyone here use a sailboat?"

No one replied.

'Well I suppose it could be worse.'

**GOOSH!**

There was an explosion of water on the starboard side of the ship. Everyone turned to see what caused the disturbance. When the water cleared, a huge tentacle was visible.

'Aw hell.'

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The chosen's group watched solemnly as the Kraken crumpled up the wooden boat like tissue paper.

"That's odd, I thought I drove it off." Commented Ranma airily.

"Nothing keeps that beastie down for long," said Captain Duo at the helm of the ship, "Believe me, I've tried everything from cannonballs to lightning blades. The most I've ever been able to do is stun 'er for a while."

"How long has that thing been after you?" asked Raine.

"Oh, I'm going on about 8 years now."

"And how many ships have you gone through?" questioned Genis.

"Well, counting this one, my twentieth."

"You're planning on keeping this?"

"Sure! Why not? It's faster than any other boat I've owned."

"And it will also get you shot on sight if anybody sees it." Commented Kratos.

"Well, that be a risk I'm willing to take."

Seeing as how there was nothing left to say, everyone turned back towards the ruins of the ship, which was little more that driftwood now.

"You boys can rest easy now. It'll be a month or two before the beast catches my sent again."

11111111111111111111

Ranma sat in his new cabin, going through the meditative kata that Kratos had taught him.

Down in the water, he had been able to grasp something separate from his ki, and it was solid confirmation of his elvin ancestry. However, he had no idea where that came from.

Puzzling over that would be pointless though. He wanted to learn how to use it, no matter where it came from. Looking into his core where his ki was, he found the other energy, weak, but present.

It was not part of his ki though. The magic energy had a separate core and different roots.

'Well, it should handle like ki though…'

Taking some of the energy, he pictured the lightning he used down in the ocean and channeled it through his body to his hand.

**BZZZZZT!**

Anyone who was watching could have sworn they could've seen Ranma's skeleton flash as lightning coursed all over his body, dropping his electrocuted self down onto the cabin floor, unconscious.

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"Hey!"

Ranma grumbled to himself as he strained to open his eyes. Something was poking him in the side but he didn't want to make the effort to move.

"HEY!"

A hard jab to the side woke Ranma out of his daze. He looked around to see Genis poking him in the side with his Kendamma.

"Genis! What are you doing here?"

"Checking up on you. After that catastrophe with your magic like that, I'm surprised you were only out for an hour."

"Wh-what happened?"

"You tried channeling your magic energy through your body. Your lucky you tried lightning first, otherwise you could have been much worse off."

"What I'd do wrong?"

"You pictured the element you wanted before you had a good hold on the magic energy. This caused the element to run through your whole body."

For a second, Ranma wondered what might have happened if he had tried to use fire…and just as quickly decided he didn't want to know.

"Can you teach me…to do it the right way then?"

"I suppose I'd better before you kill yourself. I dunno how good of a teacher I'll be though."

"I'm sure you'll be fine. You've mastered it."

"Yeah but doing something and teaching something are two different things entirely. Besides, it feels awkward teaching someone older than me."

Ranma snorted, " I learned a long time ago, that when any type of art is concerned, its skill, not age that makes the person. Back where I came from, I beat up plenty of people who were older than me. There was this one man in particular…"

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ACHOO!

Genma sniffed and rubbed his nose.

'Hmm, someone must be talking about me.'

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A/N: Wow, its four AM in the morning and I just finished this chapter. I hope that this shows how dedicated I am to my writing.

Ranma: Oh please. If you were that dedicated you'd update more than once a month.

ClanCrusher: Oh shutup.


	18. Chapter 16

ClanCrusher: Welcome back to another installment of-

WHAM!

Lloyd: Where the hell have you been?

ClanCrusher (Holding his head): Ow! I've been busy okay? Yeesh, cut a guy a break will ya?

Lloyd: It's been FOUR YEARS! What's wrong with you?

ClanCrusher: Would you believe life-threatening disease?

Lloyd: No.

ClanCrusher: Journey of self-discovery?

Lloyd: Try again.

ClanCrusher: Lot's of rigorous school and education?

Lloyd: Even if that was true, I don't care. There's your laptop. Start writing.

ClanCrusher: Fine.

* * *

**Off the Coast of Palmacosta**

"So Kratos," began Ranma casually as he looked at the approaching shore of Palmacosta. "Desians are basically the most universally hated generic bad guys on the face of Sylvarant, right?"

"Correct."

"And we're cruising towards a town that has been in a constant battle with these Desians for years, right?"

"Indeed."

"So what are the odds that us, in this Desian warship, are going to be on the end of a rather large but comical misunderstanding with the good guys thinking we're the bad guys?"

Kratos sighed as he spotted the shiny armor of several guards lining the docks, weapons at the ready. "I think today is going to be a rather long day."

"And I think it might be just about time to abandon another ship," said Han Duo, coming up from behind. "Ah well, she was good while she lasted."

Ranma sweat dropped. "You haven't even owned her for a day."

"I don't like long drawn out goodbyes," he said in a nostalgic voice. "Staying attached to any girl for too long is bad for your health after all."

WHAP!

Han Duo recoiled from Raine's blow to the back of his skull.

"Ow! Dammit woman I meant the ship! The ship!" he protested while rubbing the back of his head.

"Sure you did," said Raine, unbelieving. "This does cause a few problems though. Hopefully they'll allow us time to explain the situation."

"It's not like we're wearing Desian uniforms or anything," said Lloyd, joining them on the deck.

"You'd be surprised what fear can do to people," responded Kratos, eyes warily scanning the assembled troops. "Makes them jump to conclusions and do stupid things."

"And nothing sets people on edge like Desians," finished Raine.

The air was silent as the ship slowly pulled into the docks. The area was devoid of civilians and the kiosks that usually held shops were closed down. Everything seemed to be awaiting the arrival of the Desian warship.

Everyone followed behind Kratos, weapons ready but not drawn, as the leader of the platoon approached them.

He appraised them carefully. "You don't look like Desians," he said finally.

"We're not," affirmed the mercenary. "We accidentally commandeered this warship when our own ship was wrecked. Feel free to search it if you think it necessary."

The guard nodded and motioned for a couple of his men to board the vessel. Han Duo seemed to be about to protest but was quickly silenced by another smack via Raine's staff. After a couple tense minutes, the guards came back, giving an all clear signal.

"Well then, nothing to be too alarmed about then. Just as long as you're the only one," said the man jokingly. No one laughed. Coughing awkwardly, he regained his official voice. "Welcome to Palmacosta. I'd like to ask you to take that ship away as quickly as possible though. Desians tend to make the locals nervous."

"I'll be heading out as soon as I've resupplied," assured Han Duo.

Raine looked at the ship, and then back at him. "Can you really man that thing by yourself?" she asked skeptically.

"Sure I can. I've sailed much bigger things than her before."

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Han Duo snorted. "Ye of little faith. See if I ever give you a ride again."

"Don't do us any favors," the martial artist shot back instantly. "I'd feel safer in a washtub after that ship ride."

Han Duo didn't respond, merely walked back up the gangplank, muttering to himself about uppity kids these days. The head guard gave one final salute before dispersing the other soldiers.

"Huh. Well that went unusually well," said Genis.

"Maybe we'll be able to pass through here without incident," said Lloyd confidently.

"Yeah, and maybe Kratos will actually smile for a change," mumbled Ranma sarcastically.

* * *

**Palmacosta: Government Building**

"Imposters! Seize them!"

"Hey Lloyd? I think this is the part where I say 'I told you so'."

"Oh shut up."

The Book of Regeneration. A record of the location of the seals needing to be released to refill the world with mana. Kept as a closely guarded artifact by the Governor of Palmacosta, and apparently given to the first rag tag group of adventurers claiming that they had the chosen one who was going on the journey of regeneration.

Behind them, a wall of guards had formed between them and the exit, halberds at the ready. Ranma tensed, getting ready for a fight.

"Colette!" barked Kratos suddenly, startling the smaller girl. "Show them your wings."

"Right." Concentrating for a second, her rainbow pattered wings appeared from her back, bathing the room in light.

Governor-general Dorr looked shocked but quickly called off the guards. "I-I apologize," he stuttered out quickly. "I thought the chosen of mana had already presented herself!"

Raine sighed, clearly annoyed. "And I suppose you took them at face value? Did you even think to ask for proof?"

"I-I let my excitement...get the best of me. I really wanted to believe. I offer my deepest apologies." He bowed towards the chosen.

Ranma rubbed his head tiredly. "Imposters huh? Should be easy enough. Just find the people claiming to be us and beat the crap out of them right?"

"It might not be that easy," said Raine doubtfully. "Apparently they were good enough to fool a Governor, so other people might assume that we are the imposters instead."

"Or it could be that this governor is an idiot," said Genis rudely. "Do you use your eyes at all or are they just there for decoration? You humans are-"

WHAP!

The words were barely out of his mouth before Raine's staff came down upon his head, making a loud sound. "And we are guests in this city. Watch your mouth Genis."

Genis looked angry, but didn't respond. Ranma felt a little uncomfortable. A small undercurrent of racism was flowing throughout the room now.

"I don't suppose you know what was in the book?" asked Lloyd hopefully.

"Angelic script," cut in Kratos before Dorr could answer.

"What did the imposters look like?" asked Ranma, trying a new line of questioning.

The governor thought about it for a second. "Well, the fake Chosen one was wearing a light blue wizards hat and cloak. Another had blue hair and a scholarly look about him, and another had spiky brown hair and lots of armor. The last was wearing green pants and a brown vest."

"Well if they're a group of four traveling together then they'll probably stick out easily enough," said Kratos.

"Assuming that none of them can actually read angelic script," mused Raine, "they'll probably want to sell it. Governor Dorr, what would you say the best place to sell antiques around here would be?"

"Hakonesia Peak," said the aged man instantly. "There's an old antique dealer there named Koton. Collects a lot of random things. He's been trying to get the scripture off of me for ages."

"How long ago were they here?" pressed Kratos.

"Not even an hour ago."

"No rest for the weary then," said Ranma sourly. "Oh well. Great town, at least for the whole ten minutes we were here I guess. Time to go save the world again."

"It'd be easier if everyone wasn't conspiring against us though," shot back Genis as they filed out of the building.

The group walked along quietly for a few seconds, no one speaking until Kratos stopped them in front of an item shop.

"We should take a minute to resupply," he said in way of explanation.

Ranma scratched his head. "Aren't we in kind of a hurry?"

"We are. But we are in no hurry to die from being unprepared."

Ranma sighed but conceded the point. Leaving the rest of the party outside, Ranma, Kratos, and Lloyd entered the item shop.

"Oh please! There's no way anyone would sell those to you at a price that low!"

The martial artist surveyed the scene before him. Two uniformed Desians seemed to be arguing with a brown haired girl in a yellow dress.

"You should be thankful that we're even willing to spend money for goods from a rundown shack like this!" Retorted one of the Desians.

"I don't need to hear that from a bunch of filthy Desians! I'm not going to sell one single gel to the likes of you."

"Chocolat, stop!" An older woman had come to stand behind the counter now, seemingly trying to diffuse the situation.

"But mom, these are the same monsters that took Grandma away!"

The first Desian slammed his hand down on the counter, leaning forward threateningly. "You've got some nerve talking to us like that, little girl! You keep that up, and we can't guarantee what'll happen to you or this city!"

Chocolat smirked. "Just try it! As long as Governor-general Dorr is around, we'll never submit to the likes of you!"

"Why you little-"

"Excuse me!" spoke up Ranma suddenly. "Are you guys going to buy something or what? We're kind of in a hurry."

The argument cut off abruptly as everyone turned to see the arrival of the new customers. The Deisans suddenly recoiled back in surprise.

"It's you!" said one.

"The one who escaped from the ranch!" said the other.

"And the one with the special exsphere!" The Desians began reaching for their weapons.

Ranma facepalmed, somewhat exasperated. "Oh right, I'd almost forgotten about that."

"You want to start something here?" asked Lloyd, resting a hand on one of his swords.

The Desians paused for a minute, as if suddenly realizing that they were outnumbered.

"I think you should leave," said Kratos menacingly.

The Desians hurried to put away their weapons and moved towards the door.

One of them turned around at the last minute to speak to Chocolat. "Depending on Lord Magnius' mood, you might or might not get to keep that pretty little head of yo-HURK!"

"I don't think you heard the big intimidating mercenary," said Ranma, gripping the half-elf by the throat and looking him in the eye. "I think he said something about you leaving." Before the Desian could struggle any further, he suddenly found himself flying out the doorway and onto the street. "Man I hate waiting in line."

Chocolat and her mother, simply stared at them for a bit before regaining their composure. "I-I better get to work," said Chocolat finally.

"Take care." Turning towards Kratos, she bowed slightly. "I apologize for what happened. Please, take a look around."

As Kratos began to bargain for their supplies, Ranma casually threaded his way through the products with Lloyd. "There seems to be a lot of racial tension around here," he said carefully.

"It's the same all around," said Lloyd bluntly. "Hatred between humans and half-elves is mutual, believe me."

"Do you hate half-elves?" asked Ranma curiously.

"The Desians killed my mother," he said simply. "I don't know about half-elves, but Desians..." he trailed off. Ranma didn't press him for an answer.

"We're done here. Let's get moving," said Kratos suddenly.

* * *

**House of Salvation: Midway Between Palmacosta and Hakonesia Peak**

Traveling to Hakonesia Peak was almost day long journey if started in the early morning. If timed right, one could usually make it to a House of Salvation conveniently placed halfway between the two destinations around noon. Unfortunately, their journey was ill timed, and the Chosen's party had traveled the last hour through the hottest part of the day.

"We stop for now," said Kratos firmly. "Pushing further will only be detrimental to our progress."

Lloyd slumped over and sighed in relief. "Man, I thought the desert in Triet was hot, but this is just as bad."

Ranma didn't say anything, choosing rather to move towards the shade with Colette as the party threaded throughout the House of Salvation. "He's stopping for me isn't he?" asked Colette as she reached down to pet a dog.

"You and Genis," corrected Ranma. "Don't worry though. It'll get easier. Good thing too, we've still got three more seals to break."

Colette sat back on the grass, allowing the dalmatian to lick at her face while she lathered it with attention. "I hope so."

Ranma sensed her depression. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked gently. "Is it about those imposters?"

"No no, it's just that..." she trailed off for a second. "I know we're stopping because of me and everyone's worried about my health."

"You're not a burden," said Ranma immediately. "You may be klutzy and not as combat oriented as everyone else," Colette's expression fell, "but you're not a burden. Besides, this journey would be so boring without you around to keep our morale up."

Colette didn't respond, but smiled gave the dog one last pat. "This one is definitely a Max."

Ranma sweatdropped. "You just named him?"

"Yep!"

"What if he already has a name?"

"He likes this one better. Don't you Max?" she cooed to the Dog. In response, the dalmatian rolled onto its stomach, begging for pets.

Ranma shook his head. "If you say so. So you're not even a little annoyed by those imposters?"

Colette thought about it for a minute. "Well...I think if we have more Chosen Ones the odds of the world getting saved will go up."

Ranma scratched his head as Colette wandered away. "I don't think it works like that..."

* * *

"Hey Lloyd, what's up?"

The red-dressed swordsman jumped at Ranma's unexpected voice. "Sshhh!" he hushed quietly.

"What are you-" Ranma cut himself off as he saw what Lloyd was spying on. A familiar purple-dressed assassin was standing in front of the alter, praying to the statue of Spiritua. Snatches of her prayer could almost be heard.

"...lla will suffer. Please, help me save everyone."

"I've been watching her for a while now," whispered Lloyd conspiratorially. "Colette wanted me to find out- Ranma?" Lloyd turned around only to see Ranma already walking towards the assassin.

"Hey Sheena, what's up?"

The assassin jumped at the sound of his voice before whirling around to face him. "You're alive!" she exclaimed, recognizing him immediately.

The martial artist raised an eyebrow. "I'm alive? I'm surprised you made it out alive after attacking Kratos like that."

"I had help," she mumbled.

"Oh really? How long did you last?" asked Ranma smugly. "I'll give you a thousand gald if you can honestly tell me that you held your own for longer than five minutes."

Sheena blushed but didn't deny it. "Shut up! We're supposed to be enemies remember?"

"Sure, but it's too hot to fight right now. Besides, this is a church. Fighting here has bad karma written all over it. My name is Ranma by the way."

"I know that already! You're spell-warrior nearly deafened me when she shouted it."

"Spell-warrior?" asked Ranma curiously.

"Your staff wielder," she explained.

"I think she's just a mage," he corrected.

"Bullshit! I've never seen a mage hit that hard with a staff."

"She's a teacher too," offered Ranma in way of explanation.

"Oh."

"...So what are you doing here anyways?"

"I was praying that I'd be able to kill you guys! What does it look like I'm doing?"

"But isn't the goddess your praying to the same one who chose Colette to be the chosen in the first place?"

Sheena looked flustered for a second. "You wouldn't understand!"

"Probably not. I'm kinda new to this world."

Sheena's eyes widened. "You mean-"

"Hey Ranma!" Lloyd's voice cut in over their conversation. "Is she fighting us or what?"

Lloyd's hands went to his swords but was stopped by Ranma's voice. "Hey Lloyd, I don't follow the religion here that well but I'm pretty sure that fighting in a temple is a big no no."

Lloyd paused for a moment and considered what he said. "I guess you're right. My name is Lloyd by the way," he offered in way of greeting.

Sheena, who had just been about to draw her own weapons looked a little off balance. "I-idiot! I never asked you your names."

"But we already know yours so it only seems fair," said Ranma reasonably.

"Oh forget it. I've lost my concentration. You'd better be ready next time." Withdrawing a small sphere from her clothes, Sheena threw it on the ground and vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Cough, cough. Oh man that stuff smells bad," said Ranma, waving the air in front of his face. "How do ninjas put up with that crap?"

* * *

**Hakonesia Peak**

It didn't take long to locate Koton's store. After all, it was the only house in the vicinity. Unfortunately, that was the easy part. The hard part was Koton himself.

"If you're looking for road passes to get through Hakonesia peak, it's 100,000,000 gald per person!"

"The hell? What kind of price is that? That's robbery!" Protested Lloyd.

"Shut up boy! I'll have you know that I hate men."

"And I hate old geezers like you," said Ranma sourly. "Fortunately, we're not trying to get through just yet."

"There it is," said Raine, pointing out an old looking book. "Just like Dorr said."

"Well at least he was good for something," mumbled Genis.

"Oh, my beautiful maiden! You have a good eye!" The old man immediately turned away from Ranma to talk to Raine. "This here is something I purchased from the Chosen of Mana. It's a very rare scripture record that contains the Legend of Spiritua! I've been wanting to get my hands on this for ages! I'd just about given up on Dorr ever letting go of it. It was very fortunate that the Chosen herself was willing to part with it!"

"God damn imposters," mumbled Lloyd. "Do they not want the world to be regenerated or something?"

"Would it be okay if we looked at it?" asked Colette innocently.

"You've got to be kidding me! Why should I show it to you people?"

THUNK!

"Because we're trying to save the world," said Ranma as he caught the old man's limp body. Everyone stared at him in shock. "What?"

"That wasn't very professional Ranma," said Raine condescendingly.

"Don't worry, he won't remember a thing. I used to do this to my dad all the time to make him forget his stupid plans," he assured them.

Kratos sighed. "Whatever. Let's just look at it while we have the chance."

Colette approached the book, and began reading. "Raging flames in an ancient city deep within clouds of sand overlook the city, lighting the darkness. Pure, flowing water floating, overflowing, in an isolated land becomes a giant pillar and rains down from the sky. Sublime wind, ancient city, the world's… Enshrined in the center of a giant stone seal lurks evil, impersonating a holy force. Shining…gazing up at the summit of the gods, giving praise to the pillar of the world…from the top of the tower of ancient gods. Two giant… …The rest is too damaged. I can't read it…"

"Well," said Raine, "since we've already released the seal of fire, we can assume that the city deep within clouds of sand refers to the Triet ruins. Assuming that Martel wrote the seals in the order in which she originally released them, then it follows that the water seal would be next."

"Pure, flowing water floating, overflowing in an isolated land becomes a giant pillar and rains down from the sky," repeated Genis to himself. "An isolated land probably refers to an island of some kind. A giant pillar of water is most likely referring to a geyser. So that means-"

"Thoda Geyser," said Ranma and Lloyd in unison.

Genis blinked. "How did you guys know that?"

Raine sighed. "Geography. It was the only lesson they were able to stay awake for while I was teaching," she explained.

"You can't win every battle," said Kratos wisely. "But at least we have a destination now."

"Make sure to copy down what you've read," said Raine to Colette, handing her a piece of paper. "I don't think it'll be good for his health if we knock him unconscious every time we want to read that book."

"I'm telling you it's going to be fine," assured Ranma. "I've done this lots of times."

"That's not exactly encouraging," said Genis.

After transcribing the book, the party left the house, only to be stalled by a crowd of people mingling in front of the shop. "What's wrong?" asked Lloyd to the crowd of people.

One of the women turned to the swordsman, seemingly both excited and horrified to share her gossip. "Oh you don't know?"

"It'd be better if you just stayed here for a while. Avoid Palmacosta at all costs," he cautioned.

"Did something happen?" asked Colette worriedly.

"It seems the Desians are headed for Palmacosta," said another woman. "Plus they say that their leader Magnius is with them."

Ranma tuned out the rest of the crowd as he talked with the other party members. "I thought that the Desians had reached their 'death quota' this year. What's up with the invasion?"

"Magnius has always been a lose cannon," explained Kratos. "Someone human probably slighted him or something."

"You know the guy?" asked Ranma curiously.

"I know of him," he corrected. "Of the Desian ranch leaders, he's probably the closest to insanity."

"We have to go help them," said Lloyd suddenly.

"That wouldn't be recommended," cautioned Raine. "Our goal is to regenerate the world. We don't have time to worry about every single town along the way."

"What good is saving the world if we can't even save the people in front of us?" shouted Lloyd. "They don't have a non-aggression treaty like Iselia. If we just stand by and let this happen, there won't be anything left to regenerate!"

Raine seemed at a loss for words. Colette, on the other hand, was immediately fired up. "Lloyd's right! I won't just stand here and let this happen."

Ranma however, groaned. "Ugh. I guess this means we get to travel all the way back there then."

"It's good training," said Kratos unsympathetically. "We'll have to hurry though. Raine, you ride with Noishe. Lloyd, you carry Genis. Ranma, you carry Colette. If you keep pace with me then we'll make it in time."

"Why don't you have to carry anyone?" asked Ranma skeptically.

"Because I've already completed my training," said Kratos simply. "Enough complaining."

"Ooh a piggyback ride," said Colette excitedly. "I haven't done this in a while."

Ranma couldn't help but groan again as he felt Colette's weight add on to the weight he was already carrying. "These people better be grateful for this," he mumbled quietly.

* * *

A/N: Oh man I am so out of practice with this fanfic. I hope you still enjoyed it though. I know the impostors haven't played a big role just yet, but we'll be seeing more of them in the future. Show of hands though, how many people just wanted to deck Koton by the end of the game?


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